# Opportunity on Mars



## Brian G Turner (Jan 25, 2004)

Glad to see the second one taking up the flank on this one. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3427045.stm

excerpt:



> *Opportunity, the second of two Nasa rovers, has successfully landed on the Martian surface where it will search for signs of water on the planet. *
> 
> 
> The new rover touched down at 0505 GMT, halfway around the red planet from where Spirit rover landed on 4 January. Opportunity landed on a smooth, flat plain, in the highest altitude landing ever attempted by Nasa.


----------



## nemogbr (Jan 29, 2004)

Wondered why they named the probes "Spirit" and "Opportunity"

Is opportunity to make big money if they discover water and the possibility of colonising Mars?

Should have been done a decade ago.


----------



## Brian G Turner (Jan 29, 2004)

Think they were supposed to have been named by a schoolgirl. 

And while we're on topic:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994609

excerpt:



> New images transmitted from the Mars rover Opportunity have revealed tantalising signs of sedimentary rocks, the very thing mission geologists are most hoping to find.
> 
> A long outcrop of light coloured bedrock has riveted the science team's attention and now the new 180° segment of high-resolution imagery from the panoramic camera has revealed clear layers, many just a centimetre thick.
> 
> ...


What's a shame is that in the New Scientist mag there's speculation mentioned that Opportunity has landed on Martian "mud" - but the feature isn't coverde online in the public section.


----------



## Brian G Turner (Feb 12, 2004)

Just to keep updated: mysterious spheres in the Martian bedrock. I'm taking bets that it's volcanic in origin, rather than "yet-another-forced-emphasis-on-water" explanation. 

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994658

excerpt:



> The latest close-ups taken by the Mars rover Opportunity leave just two serious possibilities for the method of formation of the layered rocks it is examining, lead scientist Steve Squyres said on Monday.
> 
> The rocks are the first bedrock ever analysed on Mars - other rocks were only loose boulders. The strata are tantalising the science team as they might provide conclusive proof of water-lain sediments. This would show that Mars was once a much wetter place and increase the chance that life existed.
> 
> ...


----------

