4.00English165In Brief

With its daily supply of solar energy increasing, NASA’s durable Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven off the sunward-tilted outcrop called Greeley Haven where it worked during its fifth Martian winter.

Opportunity’s first drive since December 26, 2011, took the rover about 3.7 meters northwest and downhill on May 8. The rover operations team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, received confirmation of the completed drive late that day, relayed from NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter.

“We’re off the Greeley Haven outcrop onto the sand just below it,” said rover driver Ashley Stroupe of JPL. “It feels good to be on the move again.”

Opportunity used its rear hazard-avoidance camera after nearly completing the May 8 drive, capturing this view looking back at Greeley Haven. The dark shape in the foreground is the shadow of Opportunity’s solar array.

For more on the rover’s work during the winter and its mission on Mars, see the NASA press release.

]]> With its daily supply of solar energy increasing, NASA’s durable Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven off the sunward-tilted outcrop called Greeley Haven where it worked during its fifth Martian winter.

]]>001INBRIEFENERGY0False