Santa Maria (crater)

Santa Maria is an impact crater on Mars, located at 2.172°S, 5.445°W within the Meridiani Planum extraterrestrial plain, lying situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region.

Santa Maria

Panorama taken by Opportunity rover on December 18th, 2010
Planet	Mars
Region	Meridiani Planum
Coordinates	2.172°S 5.445°W / -2.172; -5.445
Quadrangle	Margaritifer Sinus
Diameter	90 meters (295 feet)
Discoverer	Opportunity rover
Eponym	Santa Maria, a ship used by Christopher Columbus during his crossing of the Atlantic in 1492.

This geological feature was first visited by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. It sits north west of the much larger Endeavour crater. The crater measures about 80–90 m (260–300 ft) across. Its name has not been officially recognized by the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature.^[1]

Exploration

Santa Maria crater from orbit, by HiRise

Opportunity arrived at the crater on December 15, 2010.^[2] The rover was positioned at the south eastern rim, where it took several images and prepared for the oncoming Solar Conjunction. The last communication made before the conjunction was on February 3, 2011.^[3] Communications resumed around a week later, and the rover performed several in-situ studies of the rocks "Luis de Torres" and "Ruiz Garcia". The rover left the crater on March 22, heading eastwards towards Endeavour crater.

See also

• Geography of Mars
• List of craters on Mars

References

1. "Mars". usgs.gov. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature – International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). Retrieved 10 August 2017.
2. "Opportunity shoots Awesome Views of Santa Maria Crater". 23 December 2010.
3. NASA.gov