Posted: Sat, Jun 5, 2004, 8:59 AM ET (1259 GMT)
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will enter a large crater as early as next week, NASA announced late Friday. Opportunity had been studying the rim of Endurance Crater, several hundred meters from its landing site, while engineers and scientists debited the merits and risks of sending the rover inside the crater. Scientists had argued that the crater's interior contained outcrops of bedrock that could provide additional information about the history of water on the planet, while engineers expressed concern that the crater's steep walls could make it impossible for the rover to exit the crater. In a statement Friday the agency said that the "potential science value" of sending the rover into the crater outweighed the risk that it could not leave. The entry into the crater could take place next week, once rover controllers confirm that a proposed route into the crater is no steeper than what the rover can handle. The plan is to send the rover to a particular outcrop only five to seven meters into the crater, then exit once studies of the outcrop are complete.

Related Links:

•  AP article
•  NASA press release