Mars surface. Landing site of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on the surface of Mars. Opportunity landed on 24 January 2004 in the Meridiani Planum region, east of Valles Marineris near the Martian equator. The lander carrying the rover came to a standstill in a small crater (white dot in crater at upper left). The white mark at far left is the lander's parachute and backshell. The first bounce made by the lander and the lander's heatshield also left marks on the Martian surface (pale area at centre left, and black dot at lower right respectively). This 1.4-kilometre-wide image was taken by the camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbitor.