Victoria Mars Crater

Victoria CraterMars Exploration Rover Opportunity This photo of Victoria Crater shows an impact crater located at 5.50°W 2.05°S in Meridiani Planum, on Mars, currently being visited by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. It is roughly 730 metres wide, nearly eight times the size of Endurance, visited by Opportunity from sols 95 to 315. It is named after Victoria, one of the five ships of Ferdinand Magellan and the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. Along the edges of the crater are many outcrops within recessed alcoves and promontories, named for bays and capes that Magellan discovered.Craters are interesting for scientists as they enable access to the layers beneath the soil and a means to analyze the geological history of Mars. For planetary geologists in this case, Victoria will provide them with even more exposures of the subsurface of Mars than ever before.