Mars Rover Update

NASA will attempt to guide the Opportunity rover out of Endurance Crater and back onto the Meridiani Planum. This decision was made when the rover's progress to investigate a 22 foot high set of cliffs inside the crater was impeded. Further attempts to manuever toward the cliff could cause the rover to become trapped. So the descision was made to turn around and backtrack along the path that they followed into the crater. Once out, scientists intend to drive toward the rover's heat shield that impacted not far from Endurance Crater, then perhaps make a long trek toward Victoria Crater 3 miles south of Endurance Crater.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Planet, the Spirit rover was still investigating the Columbia Hills. Spirit is the older of the two rovers and her age is showing. Spirit has had a tougher job when compared to Opportunity. The terrain at Spirit's landing site is far rougher than at Opportunity's and Spirit has logged twice the distance across it. There have been problems with two of the rover's six wheels and a number of other minor problems. The NASA team tending the rover however believes that they still have the ability to wring more discoveries out of Spirit before the rover is finally spent.