Endeavour Crater Rim from Murray Ridge

This vista of the Endeavour Crater rim was acquired by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity from the southern end of "Murray Ridge" on the western rim of the crater. It combines several exposures taken by the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) on the 3,637th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (April 18, 2014).

The view extends from the east-southeast on the left to southward on the right. It encompasses the far rim of Endeavour Crater on the left and the crater's western rim on the right. Endeavour is 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.

The small impact crater visible in the distance on the slopes of the far rim is about 740 feet (about 225 meters) in diameter and is 13 miles (21 kilometers) away. The high peak in the distance on the right is informally named "Cape Tribulation" and is about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) to the south of Opportunity's position when this view was recorded. The rim curves off to the left from Cape Tribulation in a series of peaks towards the far southern crater rim.

The floor of Endeavour crater is filled with dark sand, brighter dust, and, in the distance, dusty haze. Outcrops here on the western rim are crater ejecta covered in the foreground by dark sand ripples. On Sol 3662 (May 13, 2014), Opportunity approached the dark outcrops about halfway down on the right side of the image.

The view merges exposures taken through three of the Pancam's color filters, centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). It is presented in approximately true color.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Arizona State University

Note: For more information, see PIA18094: Endeavour Crater Rim From 'Murray Ridge' on Mars, False Color, PIA18095: Approaching a Target Deposit on Mars Crater Rim, PIA18096: Approaching a Target Deposit on Mars Crater Rim (Stereo), PIA18098: Opportunity's Tracks Near Crater Rim Ridgeline, PIA18099: Opportunity's Tracks Near Crater Rim Ridgeline (Stereo), and NASA Rover Gains Martian Vista From Ridgeline.

Opportunity's January 2014 Self-Portrait

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded the component images for this self-portrait about three weeks before completing a decade of work on Mars. The rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) took the images during the interval January 3, 2014, to January 6, 2014, a few days after winds removed some of the dust that had been accumulating on the rover's solar panels.

Opportunity landed on Mars on January 25, 2004, Universal Time (January 24, 2004, PST) for a mission that was planned to last three months. It is still active 10 Earth years later.

This image is presented as a vertical projection. The mast on which the Pancam is mounted does not appear in the image, though its shadow does.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Arizona State University

Note: For more information, see PIA17758: Opportunity's First Decade of Driving on Mars and NASA's Opportunity at 10: New Findings from Old Rover.

Greeley Haven Panorama

This full-circle scene combines 817 images taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. It shows the terrain that surrounded the rover while it was stationary for four months of work during its most recent Martian winter.

Opportunity's Pancam took the component images between the 2,811th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's Mars surface mission (December 21, 2011) and Sol 2,947 (May 8, 2012). Opportunity spent those months on a northward sloped outcrop, "Greeley Haven," which angled the rover's solar panels toward the sun low in the northern sky during southern hemisphere winter. The outcrop's informal name is a tribute to Ronald Greeley (1939-2011), who was a member of the mission team and who taught generations of planetary scientists at Arizona State University, Tempe. The site is near the northern tip of the "Cape York" segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater.

North is at the center of the image. South is at both ends. On the far left at the horizon is "Rich Morris Hill." That outcrop on Cape York was informally named in memory of John R. "Rich" Morris (1973-2011), an aerospace engineer and musician who was a Mars rover team member and mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena.

Bright wind-blown deposits on the left are banked up against the Greeley Haven outcrop. Opportunity's tracks can be seen extending from the south, with a turn-in-place and other maneuvers evident from activities to position the rover at Greeley Haven. The tracks in some locations have exposed darker underlying soils by disturbing a thin, bright dust cover.

Other bright, dusty deposits can be seen to the north, northeast, and east of Greeley Haven. The deposit at the center of the image, due north from the rover's winter location, is a dusty patch called "North Pole." Opportunity drove to it and investigated it in May 2012 as an example of wind-blown Martian dust.

The interior of Endeavour Crater can been seen just below the horizon in the right half of the scene, to the northeast and east of Cape York. The crater spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.

Opportunity's solar panels and other structures show dust that has accumulated over the lifetime of the mission. Opportunity has been working on Mars since January 2004.

During the recent four months that Opportunity worked at Greeley Haven, activities included radio-science observations to better understand Martian spin axis dynamics and thus interior structure, investigations of the composition and textures of an outcrop exposing an impact-jumbled rock formation on the crater rim, monitoring the atmosphere and surface for changes, and acquisition of this full-color mosaic of the surroundings.

The panorama combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University

Note: For more information, see Mars Panorama: Next Best Thing to Being There.

Opportunity's Three-Year Trek Across Mars

During the three-year trek of NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity from Victoria crater to Endeavour crater, rover planners captured a horizon photograph at the end of each drive. 309 images taken during the 13-mile journey appear in this video.

Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University

Greeley Haven in False Color on Opportunity's Eighth Anniversary

This mosaic of images taken in mid-January 2012 shows the windswept vista northward (left) to northeastward (right) from the location where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is spending its fifth Martian winter, an outcrop informally named "Greeley Haven."

Opportunity's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) took the component images as part of full-circle view being assembled from Greeley Haven.

The view includes sand ripples and other wind-sculpted features in the foreground and mid-field. The northern edge of the the "Cape York" segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater forms an arc across the upper half of the scene.

Opportunity landed on Mars on January 25, 2004, Universal Time and EST (January 24, PST). It has driven 21.4 miles (34.4 kilometers) as of its eighth anniversary on the planet. In late 2011, the rover team drove Opportunity up onto Greeley Haven to take advantage of the outcrop's Sun-facing slope to boost output from the rover's dusty solar panels during the Martian winter.

Research activities while at Greeley Haven include a radio-science investigation of the interior of Mars, inspections of mineral compositions and textures on the outcrop, and monitoring of wind-caused changes on scales from dunes to individual soil particles.

The image combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University

Note: For a true-color image of the same view, see PIA15281: Opportunity's Eighth Anniversary View From 'Greeley Haven'.

Chester Lake

An outcrop informally named "Chester Lake" is the second rock on the rim of Endeavour crater to be approached by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity for close inspection with instruments on the rover's robotic arm. This view of Chester Lake combines images taken through three different filters by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) and is presented in false color to emphasize differences among materials in the rock and soil. The component images were taken during the 2,709th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars (September 7, 2011).

Chester Lake is about 3 feet (1 meter) across. It lies on the inboard (southeastern) side of a low ridge, "Cape York," which forms a portion of the western rim of Endeavour crater. Rover team scientists chose it for inspection because it is in-place bedrock that appears to be representative of a region of outcrops on the inboard side of Cape York.

Chester Lake differs from the first rock inspected by Opportunity on the Endeavour rim, "Tisdale 2," which is a boulder excavated during an impact event that produced a small crater on the rim. Both rocks appear to be breccia, a type of rock fusing together broken fragments of older rocks. By Sol 2713 (September 11, 2011), researchers had used Opportunity's microscopic imager and alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to study Chester Lake and were planning to use the rover's rock abrasion tool and, possibly, its Moessbauer spectrometer on the rock. They will use all the data to reconstruct the chemistry, mineralogy and geologic setting of Chester Lake, including evidence about whether or not the rock has any clay minerals in its composition.

Images combined into this view were taken through Pancam filters admitting light with wavelengths centered at 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet).

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU

Note: For two other pictures of Chester Lake, see PIA14751: Shadow Across 'Chester Lake' on Endeavour Rim, Sol 2710 and PIA14753: 'Chester Lake' Bedrock on Rim of Endeavour Crater.

Tisdale 2

This rock, informally named "Tisdale 2," was the first rock the NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity examined in detail on the rim of Endeavour crater. It has textures and composition unlike any rock the rover examined during its first 90 months on Mars. Its characteristics are consistent with the rock being a breccia -- a type of rock fusing together broken fragments of older rocks. Tisdale 2 is about 12 inches (30 centimeters) tall.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University

Note: A number of other photos have been released with regard to Tisdale 2; see PIA14745: Locations of Microscopic Imager Observations on 'Tisdale 2', PIA14746: Magnified View of Texture on Part of "Tisdale 2" Rock, PIA14747: Elevated Zinc and Bromine in Rock on Endeavour Rim, PIA14748: Approaching 'Tisdale 2' Rock on Rim of Endeavour Crater, Sol 2690, and PIA14749: Opportunity at Work Examining 'Tisdale 2,' Sol 2695.

The West Rim of Endeavour Crater

A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater sweeps southward in this color view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. This crater -- with a diameter of about 24 miles (22 kilometers) -- is more than 25 times wider than any that Opportunity has previously approached during the rover's 90 months on Mars.

This view combines exposures taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) on the 2,678th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (August 6, 2011) before driving on that sol. The subsequent Sol 2678 drive covered 246 feet (75.26 meters), more than half of the remaining distance to the rim of the crater. Opportunity arrived at the rim during its next drive, on Sol 2681 (August 9, 2011).

Endeavour crater has been the rover team's destination for Opportunity since the rover finished exploring Victoria crater in August 2008. Endeavour offers access to older geological deposits than any Opportunity has seen before.

The closest of the distant ridges visible along the Endeavour rim is informally named "Solander Point." Opportunity may investigate that area in the future. The rover's first destination on the rim, called "Spirit Point" in tribute to Opportunity's now-inactive twin, Spirit, is to the left (north) of this scene.

The lighter-toned rocks closer to the rover in this view are similar to the rocks Opportunity has driven over for most of the mission. However, the darker-toned and rougher rocks just beyond that might be a different type for Opportunity to investigate.

The ground in the foreground is covered with iron-rich spherules, nicknamed "blueberries," which Opportunity has observed frequently since the first days after landing. They are about 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) or more in diameter.

This view combines images taken through three different Pancam filters admitting light with wavelengths centered at 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). This "natural color" is the rover team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if humans were there and able to see it with their own eyes. Seams have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University (natural color; false color)

Opportunity is Still Smiling

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this color image on March 9, 2011, of "Santa Maria" crater, showing NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity perched on the southeast rim.

The rover is the bluish speck at about the four o'clock position on the crater rim (with indicator arrow on Figure 1). North is up. Rover tracks are visible to the west of the crater.

Opportunity has been studying this relatively fresh, 90-meter-diameter (295-foot-diameter) crater to better understand how crater excavation occurred during the impact and how it has been modified by weathering and erosion since. Note the bright blocks and rays of ejecta surrounding the crater.

Spectral information from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), which is also on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, indicates a hydrated sulfate at this location. Opportunity will soon resume a long-term trek toward a much larger crater, Endeavour. Santa Maria is about 6 kilometers (about 4 miles) from the rim of Endeavour crater, where CRISM indicates both hydrated sulfates as well as phyllosilicates that formed in a wetter past.

This view is one product from the HiRISE observation cataloged as ESP_021536_1780.

Comparisons with earlier HiRISE images of Santa Maria crater (PIA13706 and PIA13754) show the site before and shortly after the rover's arrival.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Sunset on Mars

The Sun descends to the Martian horizon and sets in this 30-second movie simulation using images from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The movie includes images that have been calibrated and enhanced, plus simulated frames used to smooth the action.

The rover team uses the Pancam to view sunsets a few times a year, when rover power is adequate, as a way to monitor distribution and variability of dust in the lower atmosphere.

This movie builds on 17 individual photos of the sky around the Sun taken through the Pancam's 440 nanometer-wavelength (blue), and 864 nanometer-wavelength (near infrared) filters, every 7.5 seconds during about 17 minutes of sunset on Opportunity's 2411th Martian day, or sol (November 5, 2010). The Sun's glare saturated parts of those images and so the moviemakers removed the glare and inserted a non-saturated image of the Sun from the previous day's imaging using Pancam's special solar filter. They then supplemented this non-glare snapshot with interpolated frames to simulate the smoother motion of the setting Sun.

The end result simulates watching the Sun set on Mars using a good pair of dark sunglasses, with the whole event sped up to about 35 times the actual speed.

Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Texas A&M

Santa Maria Crater

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity approached Santa Maria Crater in December 2010. With a diameter of about 90 meters (295 feet), this crater is slightly smaller than Endurance Crater, which Opportunity explored for about half a year in 2004.

This image of Santa Maria Crater was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The rover team plans to use Opportunity for investigating Santa Maria for a few weeks before resuming the rover's long-term trek toward Endeavour Crater. One planned target area is at Santa Maria's southeast rim. The red circle marked there on Figure 1 indicates the pixel size and location of an observation by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that has piqued researchers' interest. The spectrum recorded by CRISM for this spot, unlike the spectrum recorded for the place indicated by the blue circle on the floor of the crater, suggests what might be a water-bearing sulfate mineral. Although Opportunity has detected such minerals on the surface during its nearly seven years on Mars, none have been detected from orbit at a place visited by Opportunity.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Note: For a ground-level view of Santa Maria crater, see PIA13707: Opportunity's View of Santa Maria Crater, Sol 2450.

Oileán Ruaidh Meteorite

An iron meteorite is the latest quarry for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.

The rover's cameras revealed the meteorite on its trek to its long-term destination, Endeavour crater, in images taken on Sol 2363 (September 16, 2010), the 2,363rd Martian day of the rover's mission on Mars. This view was taken with the navigation camera on Sol 2368 (September 21, 2010), after a drive the preceding sol to get close to the rock. The meteorite is about half a meter (20 inches) long. The scene appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.

The science team used two tools on Opportunity's arm -- the microscopic imager and the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer -- to inspect the rock's texture and composition. The team informally named the rock "Oileán Ruaidh" (pronounced ay-lan ruah), which is the Gaelic name for an island off the coast of northwestern Ireland.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: Click here to see some normal photos of the meteorite. For an earlier photo and story about the meteorite, see
Mars Rover Opportunity Approaching Possible Meteorite.

Halfway to Endeavour Crater

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to record this view at the end of a 111-meter (364-foot) drive on the 2,353rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (September 6, 2010). This sol's drive took Opportunity past the estimated halfway point of the approximately 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) journey from Victoria Crater to the much larger Endeavour Crater.

Opportunity began the trip from Victoria to Endeavour in September 2008 after two years of exploring in and around Victoria. After the rover science team selected Endeavour as the rover's next long-term destination, observations of Endeavour's rim by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed the presence of clay minerals. This finding makes the site an even more compelling science destination. Clay minerals, which form exclusively under wet conditions, have been found extensively on Mars from orbit, but have not been examined on the surface.

A portion of the Endeavour rim is visible on the horizon in this image. In the nearer ground, exposures of bright-toned outcrop are visible between crests of darker, wind-sculpted sand ripples.

Opportunity completed its three-month prime mission on Mars in April 2004 and has been operating as an extended mission since then.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

First Dust Devil Seen by Opportunity

This is the first dust devil that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has observed in the rover's six and a half years on Mars. The whirlwind appeared in a routine drive-direction image taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera right after a drive during the 2,301st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (July 15, 2010).

Contrast has been stretched and the image has been carefully calibrated to make the dust devil easier to see against the Martian sky.

Opportunity's twin, Spirit, has observed dozens of dust devils at its location in Gusev Crater halfway around Mars from Opportunity's location in the Meridiani Planum region. Opportunity conducted systematic searches for dust devils in past years without seeing any. A rougher and dustier surface at Gusev makes dust devils form more readily there than at Meridiani.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Texas A&M