NASA'sdual Mars rovers - Spirit and Opportunity - are wheeling about in theirrespective zones of exploration: Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum.
TheOpportunity Mars rover is headed north right now, but only for a little while,said Cornell University's Steve Squyres, lead scientist on the Mars ExplorationRover program.
"We think we've got a few clues about what made Purgatory Dune different fromthe ones we drove over before we hit it. It's a little taller than the dunesthat came before it, and a little steeper, Squyres told SPACE.com. "We also have a hunch that the dunesthat run from northwest to southeast, like Purgatory does, may be a little younger and alittle softer than the ones that run north-south," he explained.
"Oncewe've found our preferred path, we're going to turn south again and drive, verycarefully, back into the thick of it," Squyres said.
Squyres advised not to expect over 650 feet (200 meter) rover drives anytimesoon. "We'll have our safety checks turned on, and that'll make for slower going."
Inhis rover update on a Cornell University rover web site, Squyres said thatinstruments on Opportunity's robot arm have been used to study dune dynamics.The hope is to avoid running into another Purgatory Dune.
Followingdrives to the north first -- away from Erebus -- there will be "long hard pushsouth" toward that large crater and its attraction of geological features.
Lastweekend, the robot stopped to look at an outcrop on the west side of "HusbandHill". All the target names under study were themed to "4th of July", saidLarry Cumpler at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. He is on the Mars rover science team.
Spirit'sinstrumented robot arm surveyed an outcrop named "Independence", while a specifictarget for science study was dubbed "Franklin". Other targets include some ofthe other signers of the Declaration of Independence...and other spots were namedafter various types of fireworks, Crumpler told SPACE.com.
"Itmakes for great traction and great climbing. I'm still not confident that we'llmake it to the summit, since the images seem to show a transition to softerground with more loose rocks ahead. But we're enjoying the conditions while we'vegot them," Squyres reported.
- A Mars Rover's Great Escape
- Mars Rover Special Report
