This stereo view from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows “Lunokhod 2 Crater,” which lies south of “Solander Point” on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. Lunokhod 2 Crater is approximately 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter.
Each day’s drive by Opportunity sets a new record for longest travel on wheels on a world other than Earth. The previous record holder was the Soviet Union’s Lunokhod 2 rover, which landed on Earth’s moon on Jan. 15, 1973.
The stereo mosaic combines views from the left eye and right eye of Opportunity’s panoramic camera, or Pancam, to appear three-dimensional when seen through blue-red glasses with the red lens on the left.
The view combines several images taken by Opportunity’s Pancam and was obtained on the rover’s 3,644th Martian day (sol) of exploration (April 24, 2014). Part of the rover is visible at bottom, including its rear solar arrays and low-gain antenna – the antenna appears incomplete here due to combining images with different camera pointings.
JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.