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Message: <blockquote data-quote="punaruwan" data-source="post: 10791925" data-attributes="member: 174822"> Mars as you've never see it before: Opportunity finally arrives at rim of giant crater for one last adventure<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Endeavour crater is a 14mile-wide depression near the Martian equator</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It is likely to be the rover's final destination</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Opportunity will now examine rocks older than any it has seen in its seven years on the surface of the red planet</li> </ul>Months after the death of the Mars rover Spirit, its surviving  twin has reached the rim of a vast crater to begin its final and most important exploration.Opportunity  will now examine rocks older than any it has seen in its seven years on  the surface of the red planet, Nasa scientists said last night.The  solar-powered, six-wheel rover arrived at the 14mile-wide Endeavour  crater after driving 13miles from a smaller crater named Victoria.<img src="http://i.imgur.com/CQ08O.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Final  destination: After trundling across Mars for three years, Opportunity  images a portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater where it arrived  late on Tuesday, scientists said last night<img src="http://i.imgur.com/qnjVr.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />The rover will now examine rocks older than any it has seen in its seven years on the surface of the red planet<img src="http://i.imgur.com/ixmVO.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> Opportunity and its twin Spirit landed on opposite sides of Mars in 2004  and used their instruments to discover geologic evidence that the cold,  dusty planet was once wet  The journey, which took nearly three years culminated on Tuesday  when Opportunity signalled it had arrived at the location dubbed Spirit  Point in honour of the rover's twin, which fell silent last year.'We're there,' said project manager John Callas of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.    Opportunity and Spirit landed on opposite sides of Mars in 2004  and used their instruments to discover geologic evidence that the cold  and dusty planet was once wet. Craters can provide windows into the planet's past because layers of material from long-ago eras are exposed. <img src="http://i.imgur.com/8HaxU.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />The  journey, which took nearly three years culminated on Tuesday when  Opportunity signalled it had arrived at the location dubbed Spirit Point  in honour of the rover's twin, which fell silent last year<img src="http://i.imgur.com/ue4FC.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="http://i.imgur.com/StkW1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Explorer:  An artist's impression of what Opportunity looks like as it trundles  across the Martian surface (left) and this image on the right was taken  as it made its way to the Red Planet's vast Endeavour crater  last month Mr Callas said the plan is to drive a bit closer to the rim to take pictures of the oldest rocks seen by Opportunity.He said: 'This is a brand new mission.'Since landing, Opportunity has studied sulphate sediments that pointed to an environment that was once wetter and warmer.'Now  we have rocks that pre-date that,' Mr Callas said.The  rover's work is part of Nasa's Mars Exploration Program strategy known  as 'follow the water', which looks for evidence that liquid water once  existed or perhaps still exists on the planet.Liquid water is considered essential for the potential for some form of life to have developed.<img src="http://i.imgur.com/JAXo7.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> Almost there: Opportunity used its panoramic camera to capture this view  of a portion of Endeavour crater's rim last week after a drive during  the rover's 2,676th day of working on MarsLast  week, research based on observations by Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance  Orbiter theorised that dark, finger-like features that  appear in spring and summer on some Martian slopes then fade in winter  could be flows of briny water. Saltiness would be necessary to lower the  freezing temperature of water.A big, new Nasa rover named Curiosity is awaiting launch from Cape  Canaveral, Florida, on a $2.5billion mission to explore a towering  mountain inside a 96mile-wide crater to determine if there were once  conditions capable of supporting microbial life.Curiosity, powered by a radioisotope instead of sunlight, is expected to land on Mars in August 2012.Rep ekak dala yanna.............</blockquote>

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