Emily Lakdawalla • Apr 08, 2008
Opportunity update: Approaching Cape Verde
As A. J. S. Rayl reported in her latest rover update, Opportunity is now driving toward Cape Verde, the steep cliff on Victoria crater's rim that borders the shallow ramp that the rover used to enter the crater. Cape Verde looks absolutely gorgeous from a distance, with beautiful layering. It's not clear how close Opportunity will be able to get -- the ground's tilt and shadows cast from the Cape will both decrease the power available to the rover -- but the closer it gets, the more detailed the view of those layers the rover will be able to obtain with its cameras. You can see how Opportunity is switchbacking down the slope in Eduardo Tesheiner's latest route map:

NASA / JPL / Cornell / James Canvin
View of Cape Verde on sol 1,487
Now well inside Victoria Crater, Opportunity looked across the slope to Cape Verde, its next target. This version of the image is only half the full resolution; for the full-resolution version, visit James Canvin's website.
NASA / JPL / Cornell / Dan Maas / Zareh Gorjian / Koji Kuramura / Mike Stetson / Eric De Jong