NASA: Opportunity Begins Study of Valley's Origin

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Mars Rover Opportunity Begins Study of Valley's Origin
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MER Opportunity | 2017 May 15

[img3="This graphic shows the route that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove in its final approach to 'Perseverance Valley' on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/NMMNH"]https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/im ... _hires.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the main destination of its current two-year extended mission -- an ancient fluid-carved valley incised on the inner slope of a vast crater's rim.

As the rover approached the upper end of "Perseverance Valley" in early May, images from its cameras began showing parts of the area in greater resolution than what can be seen in images taken from orbit above Mars. ...

The process that carved Perseverance Valley into the rim of Endeavour Crater billions of years ago has not yet been identified. Among the possibilities: It might have been flowing water, or might have been a debris flow in which a small amount of water lubricated a turbulent mix of mud and boulders, or might have been an even drier process, such as wind erosion. The mission's main objective with Opportunity at this site is to assess which possibility is best supported by the evidence still in place.

The upper end of the valley is at a broad notch in the crest of the crater rim. The rover team's plan for investigating the area begins with taking sets of images of the valley from two widely separated points at that dip in the rim. This long-baseline stereo imaging will provide information for extraordinarily detailed three-dimensional analysis of the terrain. The valley extends down from the rim's crest line into the crater, at a slope of about 15 to 17 degrees for a distance of about two football fields. ...

[warmingwarmingwarming]

Interesting effect on the bottom right corner .. as if water cleared sand away from in front of a line of rock .. the water building up behind the line of rock before overflowing, and washing sand away on the far side, exposing gravel/rough ground. Just a guess.

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Mars Rover Opportunity on Walkabout Near Rim
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MER Opportunity | 2017 Jun 23

[img3="The Pancam on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took the component images of this enhanced-color scene during the mission's "walkabout" survey of an area just above the top of "Perseverance Valley," in preparation for driving down the valley. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ"]https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mer/201 ... 711-16.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, is examining rocks at the edge of Endeavour Crater for signs that they may have been either transported by a flood or eroded in place by wind.

Those scenarios are among the possible explanations rover-team scientists are considering for features seen just outside the crater rim's crest above "Perseverance Valley," which is carved into the inner slope of the rim.

The team plans to drive Opportunity down Perseverance Valley after completing a "walkabout" survey of the area above it. The rover's drives now use steering motors on only the rear wheels, following a temporary jam of the left-front wheel's steering actuator this month. Opportunity has not used its right-front wheel's steering actuator since 2005, the year after it landed on Mars.

The mission has been investigating sites on and near the western rim of Endeavour Crater since 2011. The crater is about 14 miles (22 kilometers) across. ...