PIA13088: Opportunity's Wheel Tracks at Victoria Crater


Opportunity’s Wheel Tracks at Victoria Crater

Caption:

This movie shows Opportunity's climb out of Victoria crater.

The rover entered and exited the crater at the alcove called "Duck Bay" leaving two sets of wheel tracks on the steep hill, which is inclined at about 23 degrees. The rock cliff in the center of the movie behind the tracks is called "Cape Verde" and is about 6 meters tall (20 feet tall). That's about twice the height of a basketball hoop.

Victoria crater spans about 800 meters (half a mile or more than the length of eight football fields) in diameter. Its rock layers hold clues to the environment during the period when the rocks were formed and altered. Scientists were drawn to this spot because of this cross-section of exposed rock layers. The scalloped edge of the crater and other features indicate that the crater was once smaller than it is today, but wind erosion has widened it over time.

The images used to create this animation were taken on the three days Opportunity spent driving out of the crater on Aug. 24, 26 and 28, 2008 (Sols 1630, 1632 and 1634).

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Instrument Host Opportunity (MER-B)
Host Type Rover
Instrument Navigation Camera (Navcam)
Detector
Extra Keywords Crater, Grayscale, Movie
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2010-05-03
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA13088
Identifier PIA13088