NASA’s deathless Mars rover Opportunity is heading off on a two year jaunt to a massive crater.

Having nearly not made it out of the last hole it was in Opportunity has clearly become something of a crater junky, and it is now en-route to one 20 times bigger in the hopes of seeing some nice rock layers when it gets there. It is heading away from Victoria and on to Endeavour.

“We may not get there, but it is scientifically the right direction to go anyway,” says Steve Squyres, PI for the rover’s science (press release).

“I would love to see that view from the rim. But even if we never get there, as we move southward we expect to be getting to younger and younger layers of rock on the surface. Also, there are large craters to the south that we think are sources of cobbles that we want to examine out on the plain.”

Of course this is a not to be missed Opportunity (groan) to revisit all those ‘plucky little rover / a bit like Wall-E’ tropes. ‘Little Mars rover that could heads to new crater’ simpers Reuters.

The New York Times has chosen to headline its coverage of this news ‘Georgia: Murder Conviction Upheld’. Perhaps they know something dark in Opportunity’s past of which we are not aware…

Image: NASA