NASA's Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover is currently walking around Marathon Valley where its operators are planning to use it through the approaching Martian winter to research outcrops featuring clay minerals.
Slicing from west to east downhill across the western ridge of the Endeavour Crater, Marathon Valley has been the location of investigations for Opportunity since July, especially the valley's western portion where the rover is heading east to ensure a thorough observation of the area.
Through its panoramic camera, the Opportunity rover has captured a scene with a prominent summit known as "Hinners Point," which forms a portion of the valley's northern rim. The resulting image also showed a part of the floor of the valley with what appears to be zones of swirling reds that have been targeted for study.
For several months beginning in October, the rover's team is planning on operating Opportunity on the valley's southern side to make the most out of the slope facing the sun. With the site on the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet, the sun will be located north of the area during fall and winter on Mars. Angling the Opportunity to face the sun boosts power output from the rover's solar panels but it is not until January 2016 that the rover will be experiencing the shortest daylight in its seventh winter on Mars.
Ray Arvidson, Opportunity deputy principal investigator from the Washington University, explained that the rover will be conducting measurements and making its way to the southern end of Marathon Valley during the late fall and winter on Mars. When spring comes, the Opportunity will be returning to the valley's floor to make detailed measurements of areas that may be hosting clay minerals.
Endeavour Crater is around 14 miles wide and Opportunity has been exploring its western edge since 2011. The mapping of smectites, clay mineral concentrations, based on observations made by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, turned Marathon Valley into a high-priority destination.
Opportunity landed on the Red Planet in 2004 with its twin rover, Spirit for what was supposedly just a three-month mission. Both rovers exceeded their original plan, with Spirit working for six years and Opportunity still in commission. The results of the work both rovers put in will help NASA's future and ongoing projects in preparation for bringing man to the Red Planet in the 2030s.
