QUESTION:
I have seen and read about the interest in these two peaks in the distance.
Is the rover capable of climbing one of the peaks to take another 360 degree
panorama? Hence, what is the maximum angle of inclination that the rover
could climb? And finally, would this "climbing" be too risky in the event
that the rover could topple over?

ANSWER from Guy Beutelschies on July 15, 1997:
The "Twin Peaks" are probably too far away for the Rover to ever reach. We
have restrictions based on our modem range and our motor life.

The Rover can climb at angles of 30 deg, and more. The vehicle has
accelerometers that sense the Rover pitch and roll, and the Rover will stop
if it exceeds it exceeds predetermined safe limits.

ANSWER from Chris Salvo on August 11, 1997:
Eventually the rover will move further away from the lander.  It has
ultra-long range plans to go up the near hill and look over the other side
(and also look back at the lander).  The twin peaks themselves are probably
too far away to think about visiting with this rover.  It is not designed to
go more than a few hundred meters away (and this would take a lot of time)
from the lander, but who knows.  Maybe after operating for months and months
the rover could go very far away.

There are new problems with going far away.  The rover team uses the 
stereo imaging from the lander to understand the topography of the 
scene.  The farther away from the lander, the less useful the stereo 
imaging is (the accuracy of the range finding goes down), so the rover 
would have to pick its way along a little more carefully.

Chris