Get lost in this Mars rover 'Perseverance Valley' panorama
Mars stretches out for miles in a gorgeous wide-open view from NASA's Mars Opportunity rover as it surveys the Red Planet.
NASA's long-lived Mars Opportunity rover isn't slowing down after more than 13 years on the job.
NASA showed off the rover's current Red Planet hangout on Thursday with an epic panoramic view of an area called "Perseverance Valley." That's a fitting place name for a rover that has far exceeded its original three-month mission timeline.
The massive panorama rewards a closer look. Off on the right side, you can see Opportunity's wheel tracks stretching back over a gentle ridge. The two hill-like areas are known as "Winnemucca" and "Cape Tribulation."
Opportunity snapped the panorama images in June during a break from travel as the rover team worked to correct an issue with one of its front wheels. The rover is able to move about now, but that incident led the team to call this the "Sprained Ankle" panorama. Ray Arvidson from the Opportunity team described the scene as "tantalizing."
"You can see what appear to be channels lined by boulders, and the putative spillway at the top of Perseverance Valley. We have not ruled out any of the possibilities of water, ice or wind being responsible," he said.
