WORLD
Opportunity Snaps Gorgeous Vistas nearing Foothills of Giant Endeavour Crater
Baku, August 9 (AZERTAC). The epic multi-year trek of NASA`s Opportunity Mars rover to the gigantic Endeavour crater is nearly complete as the plucky rover blazes to within a football fields distance and first landfall at a spot dubbed “Spirit Point” - named in honor of her long lived twin sister “Spirit”. Endeavour beckons because it may hold clues to a time billions and billions of years ago when Mars was warmer and wetter and harbored an environment that was far more conducive to the formation of life beyond Earth.
Opportunity is racing towards the western foothills of Endeavour`s rim and is at long last transmitting stunningly clear images of portions of the crater ridges, revealing gorgeous vistas and intriguing details up the sloped walls. See our new photo mosaics above and below.
On Aug. 8 on Sol 2680 of the mission, the Martian robot is less than 400 feet away from Endeavour`s rim at Spirit Point - which lies at the southern tip of one of the ridges known as “Cape York,” on the western side of Endeavour. The humongous crater is 14 miles (22 km) in diameter.