NASA: Use robots to explore the crater on Mars

NASA's Opportunity self-propelled robot is preparing an expedition down to Mars's Victoria crater to try to find new evidence of the existence of water on the red planet.

' This crater is seen as a window overlooking the Martian past environment ,' said Alan Stern, a NASA official.

According to Stern, Opportunity is currently on Victoria's crater, a large geological area is sunken and will begin to go down to the crater next week. This journey will be risky for robots, but NASA and the team of scientists hope it will provide valuable scientific information.

Officials in charge of the mission worry that the Oppportunity has broken one of the 6 wheels, making it difficult and even impossible to get back to the pit.

Opportunity and its twin brother Spirit began the mission on Mars in early 2004 and have continued to operate longer than expected by NASA. They have discovered many traces that show that the red planet once contained a lot of water on the surface.

Left grooves are created by Opportunity going around Victoria's mouth (Photo: Yubanet)

St. CapeVincent, one of the land protrusions protruding into the mouth of Victoria's pit

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