Santa Maria is an impact crater

Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

 on Mars located at 2.172°S, 5.445°W in Meridiani Planum

Meridiani Planum

Meridiani Planum is a plain located 2 degrees south of Mars' equator , in the westernmost portion of Terra Meridiani. It hosts a rare occurrence of gray crystalline hematite...

, visited by the Mars Exploration Rover

Mars Exploration Rover

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission is an ongoing robotic space mission involving two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, exploring the planet Mars...

 Opportunity

Opportunity rover

Opportunity, MER-B , is a robotic rover on the planet Mars, active since 2004. It is the remaining rover in NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission...

. It sits north west of the much larger Endeavour crater

Endeavour (crater)

Endeavour is an impact crater located in Meridiani Planum on Mars. Endeavour is in diameter. Using Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data, phyllosilicate-bearing outcrops have been detected along the rim of this crater. These minerals may have formed under wet conditions in a low-acidic environment...

. It is about 80-90 meters across.

Exploration

Opportunity arrived at the crater on December 15, 2010. The rover was positioned at the south eastern rim, where it took several images and prepared for the oncoming Solar Conjunction

Solar conjunction

Solar conjunction occurs when a planet or other solar system object is on the opposite side of the sun from the Earth. From an Earth reference, the object will pass between the sun and the Earth. Communication with any spacecraft in solar conjunction will be severely limited due to the sun's...

. The last communication made before the conjunction was on February 3rd, 2011. 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 22nd, heading eastwards towards Endeavour crater.

Other craters visited by Opportunity (MER-B)

• Eagle
  Eagle (crater)
  Eagle is a 22-metre impact crater located on Mars on Meridiani Planum. The Opportunity rover came to rest inside Eagle crater when it landed in 2004...
  
  
• Fram
  Fram (crater)
  Fram is an impact crater in Meridiani Planum, on Mars. It was visited by the rover Opportunity on Sol 84, April 24, 2004.Fram spans about 8 metres in diameter. Opportunity paused beside it while travelling from the rover's landing site toward a larger crater, Endurance...
  
  
• Endurance
  Endurance (crater)
  Endurance is an impact crater on Mars that was visited by the Opportunity rover from May until December 2004. Mission scientists named the crater after the ship Endurance that sailed to the Antarctic in an exploration voyage organized by Ernest Shackleton.The rover entered the crater interior on...
  
  
• Argo
  Argo (crater)
  Argo is a crater located in the Meridiani Planum, on Mars, that was visited by the Opportunity rover approximately on its 365th Martian sol. The crater is located approximately south of the heat shield and Heat Shield Rock.-External links:*...
  
  
• Vostok
  Vostok (crater)
  Vostok is a crater on Mars that was reached by the rover Opportunity on sol 399 . Vostok is located roughly 1200 meters south of Endurance in Meridiani Planum...
  
  
• Erebus
  Erebus (crater)
  Erebus is a crater on Mars visited by the Opportunity rover on the way to the much larger crater Victoria. It is named after the polar exploration vessel HMS Erebus...
  
  
• Beagle
  Beagle (crater)
  This article is about the crater on Mars. For other uses, see Beagle .Beagle is a crater on Mars in Meridiani Planum which was explored by the Opportunity rover. It was located by the rover in images taken on sol 855 , 310 metres away...
  
  
• Emma Dean
  Emma Dean (crater)
  Emma Dean is a small impact crater in Meridiani Planum on Mars that was visited by the Opportunity rover from sols 929 to 943. The much larger crater Victoria lies about 100m to the east....
  
  
• Victoria Crater