NASA Rover Opportunity Makes Big Discovery, Keeps on Truckin'

NASA's 9-year-old Mars rover Opportunity is on the move again after making a momentous discovery on the Red Planet and defying the limitations of Father Time.

Opportunity — which is nearing its 10th anniversary and has spent the last 20 months working in Cape York (trek below), a raised segment of the Endeavour Crater's western rim — in May inspected a pale rock, called "Esperance" on Matijevic Hill. According to preliminary interpretation, Oppy discovered clay-mineral content formed via intensive alteration by water. The findings, per scientists, suggest that neutral-pH water might have once flowed through the area.