I missed this news while I was away on vacation, but it's very exciting so for any others that missed it, Opportunity will enter Endurance crater. This is a huge crater with very steep walls and the science and engineering teams have been considering a descent into the crater for some weeks now. I had predicted that they wouldn't take the risk of not being able to climb back out but I guess I was wrong.
It sounds like they plan on dipping into the crater about 7 meters, doing a few days of science, and then attempting to climb in reverse back up the 25° slope to escape the crater. This climb will be right up against Opportunity's limits and requires a solid rock surface but the testbed runs at JPL have apparently given the engineering team confidence that Opportunity can pull it off.
You can read more at the June 4 press release. I've got my fingers crossed and I'll let you know how it turns out as soon as I hear anything.
Posted by asa at June 8, 2004 11:17 AM