Victoria is an impact crater on Mars located at 2.05°S, 5.50°W in the Meridiani Planum extraterrestrial plain, lying situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of the planet Mars. This crater was first visited by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. It is roughly wide, nearly eight times the size of the crater Endurance, visited by Opportunity from sols 951 to 1630. Around the rover were features dubbed "No Name", "Duck Crater", "Emma Dean", "Maid of the Canyon", and "Kitty Clyde's Sister". It also imaged several nearby alcoves, informally named "Cape Verde" and "Cabo Frio", and a small bright crater the size of Beagle on the opposite end of Victoria.

Exploration

After arrival at the crater, the rover undertook a partial clockwise circumnavigation. The trip took approximately a quarter of the way around the crater. The various "bays" and "capes" were named after various landmarks visited by Ferdinand Magellan aboard the ship Victoria.

<!-- We should put a contoured traverse map from http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-opportunity/index.html , bandwidth permitting. Super-res picture of a cape as well? -->

The circumnavigation allowed rover drivers to identify possible entry and exit points, create a high resolution topographical map of the crater and test out upgraded drive software.

Interior

After a planet-wide dust storm that delayed entry into the crater for six weeks and threatened the survival of both rovers, the rover entered the crater at a point in Duck Bay. This was preceded by a test maneuver on sol 1291 to determine slippage and confirm exit strategies, followed by entry on sol 1293. During the rover's stay inside the crater, data were collected from rock layers inside the crater and high-resolution imagery was obtained of Cape Verde.

The rover left the crater interior on sol 1634 (August 29, 2008) after it experienced a current spike similar to the one which preceded the malfunction of twin Spirits right front wheel.

center|thumb|500px|The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at the rim of Victoria crater as photographed from the [[Mars Reconnaissance Orbiters HiRISE camera.]]

Context map

thumb|left|600px|Annotated elevation map of Opportunity landing site and some surrounding craters including Endeavour and Airy

See also

  • Geography of Mars
  • List of craters on Mars
  • Endeavour (crater)

References

  • Official Mars Rovers website
  • NASA Rover Opportunity Takes First Peek Into Victoria Crater
  • Google infrared map centred on Victoria Crater
  • Victoria Crater relative to MER-B landing ellipse
  • HIRISE - Victoria Crater
  • Direct link to color altimetry
  • HRSC view with SRC channel of Victoria
  • [http://hrscview.fu-berlin.de/cgi-bin/ion-p?ION__E1=UPDATE%3Aion%3A%2F%2Fhrscview2.ion&ION__E2=control%3Aion%3A%2F%2Fhrscview2.ion&ie=UTF-8&q=&image=1183_0000&image1=2+images&pos=2.009S%2C+354.481E&scale=12.5&viewport=700x780&basemap_on=on&basemap=MOLAshaded&hrsc_on=on&mode=nd&pansharpen=on&src_on=on&pview=North&exag=1.5&UPDATE=Update+view&image0=1183_0000&code=74057134] (same but closer)