MSNBC (Oberg)- Mars rover rises from crater for new trek

MSNBC (Oberg)- Mars rover rises from crater for new trek

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6708091/

After studying Endurance Crater, Opportunity sets its sights for heat shield
impact site and beyond

By James Oberg, NBC News space analyst // Special to MSNBC

Updated: 5:06 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2004

After six months of exploring the inside of a football-sized Martian
crater, the seemingly never-ending story of NASA's Opportunity rover
continues with a trek across the Martian plains. New goals and new
discoveries are already in sight.

Photographs released on Sunday show new views of the Martian plains,
taken by the robot as it cleared the rim. One of the latest images shows a
white object, the goal of Opportunity's next traverse.

This artificial structure is not some alien monument, but the probe's
own heat shield, released moments before its landing almost a year ago.
Scientists are eager to examine both the shield and the deep hole it gouged
into the ground.