Article Posted on : - Sep 10, 2010

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to record this view at the end of a 111-meter (364-foot) drive on the 2,353rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 6, 2010). NASA/JPL-Caltech photo.

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA (BNS): NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has reached the estimated halfway point to the western rim of Endeavour Crater after a 19 - kilometre journey from Victoria Crater.

Opportunity began the trip from Victoria to Endeavour in September 2008 after two years of exploring in and around Victoria.

After the rover science team selected Endeavour as the rover's next long-term destination, observations of Endeavour's rim by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed the presence of clay minerals.

This finding makes the site an even more compelling science destination, NASA said.

Clay minerals, which form exclusively under wet conditions, have been found extensively on Mars from orbit, but have not been examined on the surface, it said.

Victoria is about 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter. At about 22 kilometers (14 miles) in diameter, Endeavour is about 28 times wider.

Opportunity completed its three-month prime mission on Mars in April 2004 and has been operating as an extended mission since then.