Opportunity rover has reached Perseverance Valley

Opportunity - the oldest martian rover still in service, has reached the main destination of its two-year extended mission - an ancient water-carved valley. This is a passway through the vast rim of the Endeavour Crater with the speaking name -  Perseverance Valley.  The way to  Perseverance took two years. 

Image:   NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/NMMNH 

The mechanism that formed Perseverance Valley billions of years ago, is still unknown. The possibilities are - water flow, turbulent mud slides, or even wind erosion. Opportunity will search answers.

 The upper end of the valley is at a broad notch in the crest of the crater rim. The rover team's plan for investigating the area begins with taking sets of images of the valley from two widely separated points at that dip in the rim. Then, slowly, it will start descent down the valley, inside Endeavour Crater. The valley extends down at a slopes of about 15 - 17 degrees. The distance to go is about 200 meters, but it could be a long and winding road - if rover will meet obstacle it'll has to go back up and search for bypass.

The last two and  a half years Opportunity studied ancient hill Cape Tribulation on the western rim of Endeavour Crater (see map avove).

Image:   NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ  - In the center of the image, wheel tracks of Opportunity are seen.   The rover looked back northward during its trek south to Perseverance Valley.  Image taken on April 21, 2017.

The mission, originally planned to complete in 3 months, is continuing and is preapring to meet its 150th month in service,  bringing the mission's total odometry to about 44.7 kilometers.