nearing Victoria Crater

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, nearing 3 years on Mars and 5 miles on the odometer, is fast approaching a geological treasure trove. In the next week Opportunity will reach the rim of Victoria Crater, a half mile wide impact crater that is over 200 feet deep. Layered rock in the crater rim should present a clean cross section of millions of years of Martian history. Opportunity has already gathered evidence for the ancient presence of liquid water on Mars at Endurance Crater, a much smaller impact feature. Victoria Crater will hopefully provide more evidence for how extensively liquid water flowed on the surface and for how long. The image shows Opportunity's progress to date with the yellow trace.