NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity has been exploring the Red Planet for more than a decade. Like a champion, it tackled all the difficulties that it faced during its journey on the planet. But now, the rover has got stuck on a hill. NASA officials and scientists in the project have made a bold decision to make the rover climb the hill.

As per NASA report, the rover got stuck when it was exploring the slopes of ‘Marathon Valley’. The region is in Meridiani Planum of Mars. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that the Opportunity rover will attempt to climb the slope. It will be the most extreme slope the rover has faced in its more than a decade mission on the Red Planet.

The initial goal of Opportunity was to explore the rock region near Knudsen Ridge, a part of Mars’ Marathon Valley. But the rover could not reach the Martian rock even when its drivers here at earth commanded a healthy number of wheel rotations.

“The wheels did turn enough to have carried the rover about 66 feet, or 20 meters, if there had been no slippage, but slippage was so great, the vehicle progressed only about 3.5 inches, or 9 centimeters”, as per an announcement by NASA officials. They also revealed that it was Opportunity’s third attempt to arrive at the aimed target, but ended at a few inches short.

Now, the team, which has been handling the rover, has made a bold decision to pass over the aim and move on, the officials added.

The agency officials also said that the previous target of the rover and the new one harbor clay minerals. These are usually caused in the presence of liquid water, they added.