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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

Mariner 6 and 7 mosaic of Sinus Meridiani

Opportunity's got a long road ahead

Mars Exploration Rover principal investigator Steve Squyres announced on National Public Radio's Science Friday show the next goal for Opportunity, and it's a long, long, long way away: a huge crater about 12 kilometers southeast of its current location, which the team is referring to internally as

Curiosity, or Mars Science Laboratory

MSL Workshop Presentations!

For those of you playing along at home, I thought I should point out that most of the presentations so far are posted at the

Curiosity, or Mars Science Laboratory

MSL Workshop: Votes are Cast!

The discussion and arguments are over! We are just waiting for the last few ballots to be submitted, and then the project science group will start counting them.

Perspective view of Gale Crater

Potential MSL Site: Gale Crater

I am sort of breaking my own protocol here by posting about Gale crater before I hear the presentations today, but since we will immediately go into discussion and decision making after it is presented this morning, I figured that it would be good to familiarize you with it now.

One potential MSL landing site in Mawrth Vallis

Potential MSL Site: Mawrth Vallis

The Mawrth Vallis landing site is actually a set of four possible landing ellipses in an area with huge clay mineral signatures that is cut by a meandering outflow channel.

Potential MSL landing site in Holden Crater

Potential MSL Site: Holden Crater

The next landing site that we heard about was Holden Crater. Holden is a 154 km diameter crater formed early in martian history that happened to fall smack in the path of an extensive fluvial system.

Potential MSL landing site in Miyamoto Crater

Potential MSL Site: Miyamoto Crater

Miyamoto crater is an ancient crater about 150 km southwest of where the Opportunity rover is right now. The potential landing site has some interesting mineralogy, particularly evidence for phyllosilicate (clay) minerals.

Potential MSL landing site in south Meridiani

Potential MSL Site: South Meridiani

The south Meridiani landing site is a newcomer to the bunch. It was added earlier this summer as a replacement for the north Meridiani site.

Potential MSL landing site in Nili Fossae

Potential MSL Site: Nili Fossae Trough

This morning we hit the ground running and heard about a very interesting site: the Nili Fossae Trough. This site would land in a big canyon formed when a block of crust dropped down.

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