Opportunity rover slips as it tries to leave Mars crater
Posted on: Monday, 22 March 2004, 06:00 CST
PASADENA, California (AP) -- The Opportunity rover slipped down a sandy uphill slope as it tried to leave the crater it has explored since landing on Mars nearly two months ago, mission scientists said.
The six-wheeled robot tried driving out of the crater Sunday, but the soft martian terrain prevented it from doing so, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said. Controllers planned to try a second way out of the crater Monday.
Opportunity landed inside the 21-meter (72-foot) diameter crater on Jan. 24.
Halfway around Mars, Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, has been exploring the rim of a far larger crater.
NASA launched the $820 million mission to search Mars for evidence the planet once was a wetter place. Opportunity already has uncovered such evidence.
NASA scheduled a Tuesday news conference in Washington to announce what it called another ``major scientific finding'' by the mission.
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On the Net:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/
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