Monthly Archives: November 2010

If you’re a follower – even a casual follower – of the Mars rovers’ mission (and if you’re not, why are you here?! ) you’ll know who Dr. Steve Squyres is. If you don’t know who he is, he’s the … Continue reading →

Although the latest batch of images sent back by Oppy are mostly scientifically-interesting but agonisingly-unexciting portraits of a magnet mounted on the rover… … it surely can’t be long now until we get our first good look at Santa Maria! … Continue reading →

Oppy is now on course for Santa Maria, the “base camp” for her final assault on Endeavour crater. Although new images of the Santa Maria have yet to be posted on either the NASA MER site or Exploratorium – our … Continue reading →

Another so,  another drive closer to Santa Maria. Here’s the latest view of the crater that will effectively be Oppy’s “base camp” before she strikes out for the distant rim of Endeavour Crater… Not really much different to the view … Continue reading →

With Santa Maria now appearing in the distance – we can’t see it clearly yet because it’s in a dip in the local terrain – now is a good time to take a look at what we’ll see when we … Continue reading →

A new set of images has come down from Oppy, and what’s that, poking over the middle horizon over there..? Taking a closer look… …and in you-knew-it-was-coming-didn’t-you? 3D… Now, those two bumps have to be the highest points of the … Continue reading →

One of the questions I put to rover driver Scott Maxwell in the interiew in the previous post was inspired by, well, a nagging, niggly, itchy feeling I’ve had for a while now… that as amazing as the images we’ve seen … Continue reading →

As Oppy heads towards Santa Maria – which will almost certainly be her final “pit stop” of any length before she strikes out for Cape York on the eastern rim of Endeavour Crater – I thought it might be a … Continue reading →

If you have previously read this post… http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/christening-a-martian-crater … do me a favour, and forget it. Strike it from your memory. Because it’s absolutely, totally, and hopelessly wrong. Intrepid Crater wasn’t named after a sailing ship at all. It was … Continue reading →

At some point during her drive away from Intrepid crater – without any great fanfare from or celebrations within NASA – Oppy passed a very, very significant milesone in her epic trek across the great desert of Meridiani… Look closely … Continue reading →