NASA's solar-powered Mars rover Opportunity is nearing its next target, the rim of the Endeavour crater, the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed Monday.

Opportunity has been driving for the 14-mile wide crater since 2008, at a surprisingly low speed of around 60cm an hour. Currently, the Mars rover is just 120m away from its target- the Cape York ridge on the west of Endeavour crater.

The rover will not examine the entire crater. It will go through only a section of Endeavour’s rim, called "Spirit Point".

Opportunity and its sister Mars rover, which landed the Red Planet in January 2004, were originally designed only for a 90-sol mission. It may be noted here that a sol is a Martian day (about 241/2 hours).

Spirit could not survive its last Martian winter. The last communication between Spirit and the rover team was recorded on March 22 last year.

On the other hand, Opportunity is still working, sending photographs and other important information about the Red Planet.

Bill Nelson, the chief of the mission's engineering team, said, "Opportunity has an arthritic shoulder joint on her robotic arm and is a little lame in the right front wheel, but she is otherwise doing remarkably well after seven years on Mars, more like 70 in 'rover years.”

Both rovers provided scientists with important information about ancient Mars’ wet environments that might have supported microbial life.