Eagle (crater)

Eagle is an impact crater on Mars. It is 22 meters long, 3 meters deep and is located on the Meridiani Planum plateau within the MC -19 margaritifer sine - degree field. The Mars rover Opportunity landed in this crater in 2004. Measurement results of Opportunity confirmed the assumption of scientists that Meridani Planum once been the bottom of an ocean.

Name

The name of the crater Eagle has three origins:

Discoveries in the crater

The scientists of the Opportunity mission were impressed by the frequency of rock outcrops in the crater. The crater floor is very interesting from a scientific point of view, because it consists of a mixture of coarse gray grains and fine reddish grains. For more accurate studies of about a finger thick layers of rock outcrops of the presumption that Meridiani Planum once must have been a weak acidic and salty ocean confirmed. The knowledge about this area could be confirmed three months later, as the Opportunity significantly larger Endurance Crater visited east of Eagle, with further data on the history of this area could be collected.