Opportunity now a Range Rover!

Pulling away from Eagle Crater

Another Delicious Rock to Examine?

I think Opportunity is on the move across the plains of Meridiani. I hope it doesn't take too long to get to the big crater. It is certainly more fun to watch the Rover activity when they are traveling and every day is a different view.

Hey, nothing controversial here. I have no point other than saying I see it's moving a lot now.

Looks like its being doing Donuts in the sand, are there some petrol heads driving that thing?

Looks like Spirit is going to beat the hell out of Opportunity for distance travelled though. The Bonneville crater didnt penetrate deep enough to get through the Volcanic layers. Spirit is heading for the Columbia Hills.

Now thats some range roving!

Well Spirit has been there longer so there is still a chance that Opportunity to catch up. Plus I think Opportunity has been stopping more and spending more time examining rocks and soil.

Oh yes!, Spirit will be in the lead for quite some time. But don't count Opportunity out yet. When she gets going, there is NOTHING in the way. 100 meters per day should be very easy.

Gustav Crater could just be so old that the everything is covered up with sand and dust. I was so disapointed with the Bonneville crater, but when you look at it, it looks millions of years old ... not fresh! Maybe Spirit will get lucky yet. I was fun to watch the climb to the rim though!

Yeah Opportunity was a hell of a lot luckier with where it landed. I think if Endurance Crater is enterable it could end up spending a lot of time there though. Deeper layers than Eagle crater. Spirit on the other hand landed on a boring old Lava Plain. She'll have to drive over to the Columbia hills to find some older original material and see what was there before the lava filled it in.

Btw here are some interesting pics of the areas around each Rover and their planned paths.:
Opportunity
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The large crater on the right is Endurance, and is the next destination for Opportunity.

Spirit
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[Edited on 28-3-2004 by Kano]

My guess is that the Endurance crater will be too dangerous to enter. That's just a guess from the long shots thus far. Time will tell. However, the photo Op will be great in any case.

There is some interesting "white" territory due south.

More of the same layers I suspect. The crater will provide the best data on the likelyhood of an extended sea for long duration. They should get there quickly before something happens!