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Lower resolution animation
This movie maps out the travels of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover
Opportunity, from is landing site at Eagle Crater to the rim of Victoria
Crater about six miles (9.7 kilometers) away. The rover, which landed on
the red planet more than three years ago, spent 21 months trekking across
the plains of Meridiani Planum from Endurance Crater to reach Victoria
Crater on sol 951 (Sept. 26, 2006).
Victoria is the largest crater encountered by Opportunity yet, at 800
meters (half a mile) across. Once there, the rover began to explore the
rim of the crater, working around its sharp cliffs and gentle bays in a
clockwise direction. It examined the cliffs' rock layers visible from rim
viewpoints and it assessed the bays for a possible entry route.
Opportunity then headed back to its original arrival point at Victoria, an
alcove informally named "Duck Bay," where it is expected to roll into the
crater in early July 2007.
The images making up the first map in this movie are from the Mars
Observer Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, while the second map uses
an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
