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NASA Rover Gains Martian Vista From Ridgeline

May 19, 2014

This vista of the Endeavour Crater rim was acquired by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera on April 18, 2014, from the southern end of "Murray Ridge" on the western rim of the crater. In mid-May, the rover approached the dark outcrops on the flank of the hill at right.› Full image and caption

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera on May 10, 2014, to capture this 360-degree view near the ridgeline of Endeavour Crater's western rim. The center is southeastward. Rocks on the slope to the right of center are in an outcrop area targeted for the rover to study. › Full image and caption

The component images for this 360-degree panorama were taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity after the rover drove about 97 feet southeastward on April 22, 2014. The location is on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The two parallel tracks are 3.3 feet apart.› Full image and caption

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover has returned a sweeping panorama of 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer-wide) Endeavour Crater from the ridgeline of the crater's raised western rim.

The rim surrounding Endeavour Crater on Mars recedes southward, then sweeps around to the east in a vista obtained by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The view is from high on the south end of the "Murray Ridge" portion of the crater's western rim.

The image was assembled from multiple exposures taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) in April. It shows locations along the rim that the rover has subsequently reached and may explore in the future.

The panorama is available online at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA18093

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover spent several months exploring portions of Murray Ridge. Since reaching the local high point on the ridgeline from which this panorama was taken, the rover has proceeded southward to reach an exposure of aluminum-rich clay detected from orbit.

During Opportunity's first decade on Mars and the 2004-2010 career of its twin, Spirit, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project yielded a range of findings proving wet environmental conditions on ancient Mars -- some very acidic, others milder and more conducive to supporting life.

JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov

You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at:

http://twitter.com/MarsRovers

http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers

Media Contacts

Guy Webster

818-354-6278

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

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