Could The Trip into a Crater Spell the End for a Mars Rover Opportunity?

With age comes frailty, on Earth at least. NASA's durable, aging Mars rover, Opportunity, will do what could prove to be fatal to the rover; take a trip into a deep impact crater in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the geologic history of the planet.

Victoria Crater measures half-mile across and 200 to 230 feet in depth. The descent into this massive impact crater was given the go ahead solely because of the potential discovery of scientific knowledge. However, the six-wheel, solar-powered rover may not be able to climb out of the dark hole, said scientists and NASA officials Thursday.

For nearly 3.5 Earth years Opportunity has been cruising around the Red Planet and has provided scientists with a wealth of knowledge. Engineers and scientists alike would rather send the rover into the Victoria Crater now while the rover is still healthy, as opposed to later.

Alan Stern, the NASA associate administrator who provided authorization for the exploration of the crater, said, "This crater, Victoria, is a window back into the ancient environment of Mars."

The descent into the Victoria Crater presents its challenges.

"Entering this crater does come with some unknowns," Stern said. "We have analyzed the entry point but we can't be certain about the terrains and the footing down in the crater until we go there. We can't guarantee, although we think we are likely to come back out of the crater."

Fellow Mars rover, as well as Opportunity's twin, Spirit, has been on an exploration of its own on the opposite side of Mars. Spirit landed on Mars in January of 2004. It has discovered significant amounts of geologic evidence that have made some scientists believe water may have once been on the surface of the Red Planet.

Victoria Crater is the deepest crater either Rover has ever explored.

"Because it's deeper it provides us access to just a much longer span of time," said Steve Squyres, the principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover mission from Cornell University. He added that the amount of time represented in the crater's walls are unknown.

The twin rovers cost $20 to $24 million per year. Whether or not space travel and exploration is worth the money is still up in the air. Many individuals are against sending the probes to Mars. In fact, NASA scientists have lost communication with a costly $165 million Mars Polar Lander. Stretching back forty years are the failing missions to Mars. Fortunately, Opportunity is still roving. However, it may come to a halt upon entering the crater.

The entry into the crater is expected to begin on July 7 or July 9. The rover will have to cautiously cross wind-formed material at the beginning of the crater to enter it. This type of material has spelled trouble before.