Eagle (Meridiani Planum crater)
Opportunity rover | |
Eponym | See list below |
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Eagle is a 22-metre long
This crater should not be confused with the other, much larger Martian crater
Name
The name is a triple reference: in honor of the first crewed spacecraft to land on the
Discoveries in the crater
Mission scientists were intrigued by the abundance of rock outcrops dispersed throughout the crater, as well as the crater's soil, which appeared to be a mixture of coarse gray grains and fine reddish grains. Upon closer, in-situ examination of the outcrops, whose layers are no thicker than a finger, it was confirmed that Meridiani Planum was once the location of an ancient, somewhat acidic and salty sea,[3] though much more information on the history of this area would start being collected more than three months later, when Opportunity visited the much larger crater Endurance to the east.
The
Rocks and outcrops in the crater
A number of rocks and outcrops were investigated with Opportunity's Instrument Deployment Device (IDD). They were given informal names by mission scientists. These include:
- Berry Bowl, an outcrop rich in Martian spherules
- Carousel, a layered outcrop most likely to have been formed in a wet environment
- Cookies 'N' Cream, a dark soil target near Carousel
- El Capitan, another layered outcrop
- Last Chance, another layered outcrop
The locations of these rocks and outcrops can be seen in the panorama below:
See also
- Geography of Mars
- List of craters on Mars
References
- ^ a b "NASA Facts: Mars Exploration Rover" (PDF). NASA/JPL. 24 October 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
- ^ "Eagle (Meridiani Planum crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
- ^ "Reports Detail Rover Discoveries of Wet Martian History" (2 Dec 2004) JPL. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
Further reading
- Squyres; et al. (2004). "In Situ Evidence for an Ancient Aqueous Environment at Meridiani Planum, Mars" (PDF). S2CID 16785189.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link - Squyres; et al. (2004). "Soils of Eagle Crater and Meridian Planum at the Opportunity Rover Landing Site" (PDF). Science. 306 (5702): 1723–1726. S2CID 5693765.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link - Squyres; et al. (2004). "The Opportunity Rover's Athena Science Investigation at Meridiani Planum, Mars". Science. 306 (5702): 1698–1703. S2CID 7876861.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link