Article Posted on : - Sep 16, 2011

The robotic arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity casts a shadow on a rock outcrop called Chester Lake. Photo: NASA/ JPL

LONDON (BNS): NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is inspecting another rock ‘Chester Lake’ on the surface of Mars by using its robotic arms, according to a report.

According to JPL, this is the second rock that rover has examined with a microscopic imager and a spectrometer since reaching its long-term destination, the rim of vast Endeavour crater, in August.

The rocks at Endeavour apparently come from an earlier period of Martian history than the rocks that Opportunity examined during its first seven-and-a-half years on Mars.

Opportunity and its rover twin, Spirit, completed their three-month prime missions on Mars in April 2004. Both rovers continued for years of bonus, extended missions.

Several important discoveries have been made by them over the wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.

After the end of the Mars rover Spirit in 2010, NASA has schedule the launch of the next-generation Mars rover, car-size Curiosity.