PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 20 (UPI) -- NASA says its Mars Opportunity rover is being directed from orbiting instruments for the first time to areas that might hold clues to past Martian environments.
Researchers are using a sensitive mineral-mapping instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to make decisions about where to have the rover go as it investigates a large ancient crater called Endeavor, ScienceDaily.com reported Monday.
The orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer is producing maps of minerals at Endeavour's rim that are helping the team choose which area to explore first.
"This is the first time mineral detections from orbit are being used in tactical decisions about where to drive on Mars," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis.
Opportunity's science team decided to begin moving the rover toward the 14-mile-wide crater in 2008, after four years studying other sites in what initially was planned as a three-month mission.
The rover has traveled about nine miles since setting out for Endeavour crater and will need several more months to reach it.
Opportunity's exploration of Endeavour will begin at a rim fragment called Cape York that orbital measurements suggest is nearly surrounded by water-bearing minerals, NASA says.
