Nov 17, 2009 – Victoria Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars, taken from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – NASA

• Making an impact isn’t hard in this place.
  It’s happened a lot over the ages
• Off-roading more than 30 million miles away…
  Is not without its challenges
• When we’re ready to start a new life in the space colonies…
  We’ll owe a huge debt of thanks to these folks
• Which capital city is the namesake of this Martian crater?
  Hint: It’s the smallest in Africa

Victoria is an impact crater on Mars located at 2.05°S, 5.50°W in Meridiani Planum, visited by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.  It is roughly 730 metres wide, nearly eight times the size of the crater Endurance, visited by Opportunity from sols 95 to 315. It is informally named after Victoria -one of the five ships of Ferdinand Magellan and the first ship to circumnavigate the globe – and formally named after Victoria, Seychelles. Along the edges of the crater are many outcrops within recessed alcoves and promontories, named for bays and capes that Magellan discovered.

Opportunity traveled for 21 months to Victoria before finally reaching its edge on September 26, 2006 (sol 951), at the newly named “Duck Bay”. Around the rover were features dubbed “No Name”, “Duck Crater”, “Emma Dean”, “Maid of the Canyon”, and “Kitty Clyde’s Sister”. It also imaged several nearby alcoves, informally named “Cape Verde” and “Cabo Frio”, and a small bright crater the size of Beagle on the opposite end of Victoria.