The Mars Rover Opportunity will spend the Martian winter in a place informally called “Greeley Haven”. Geologist Ronald Greeley worked for many years in several NASA space missions. Even if his latest research related to various planets and the satellite Titan, his work focused particularly on Mars, since the 70’s with the Viking missions to the latest Mars Rover missions. Ronald Greeley passed away on October 27, 2011 and the name “Greeley Haven” is a tribute to a scientist who gave many contributions to planetary geology.

In August 2011, the Mars Rover Opportunity reached Endeavour Crater, a place that offers many interesting possibilities for research on Mars history. Now Opportunity is about to face its fifth Martian winter but this time its solar panels are covered with dust more than in the past and we can’t hope that martian winds clean them up. Therefore, it was necessary to find a way to allow it to get enough energy to maintain its temperature to a level sufficient to avoid damage.

In May 2011 the last attempts to contact the Mars Rover Spirit were made but unfortunately it didn’t answer so it’s to be considered lost. Opportunity is closer to Mars equator than its twin and so far it managed to keep its energy levels higher but this year the dust on its solar panels is a concern.

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To help Opportunity pass the winter it was decided to move it towards the western rim of Endeavour Crater, which has been nicknamed Greely Haven. There, a north-facing slope will allow the Mars Rover to face the Sun in the best way and thus receive the maximum amount of solar energy available in those conditions.

The Martian winter solstice will take place March 30, 2012 so for several months the Mars Rover Opportunity will stay at Greely Haven where it will go on with some investigations waiting to be able to move again.

Good old Opportunity continues its extraordinary mission that’s been going on for more than seven years after the end of its original mission waiting for the arrival of the new Mars rover Curiosity, now en route to Mars.