Posted by jburk to Mars Exploration Rovers at November 5, 2004 10:04 AM

The Mars rover Opportunity has emerged safely from days of struggling through loose sand and is set to analyse its most tantalising targets yet. Spinning wheels nearly thwarted the rover's six-wheeled climb inside the stadium-sized Endurance crater. But it is expected to arrive within a robotic-arm's length of a rock exposure dubbed Burns Cliff on Friday, where deep exposures of heavily layered bedrock are visible.