In as much as the posts on this seem scattered below, I thought perhaps it might be nice to a start a header here for this.

First off, as I myself want to find out how long a rover can survive on Mars, I don't think it would be wise to go into the crater, given the sand and the slope. Rememberig back, Sojourner was given an estimated lifetime of 14 days, and went well over (5 times, 6 times?). I don't know how long the estimated lifetimes of the MERs were, (one year max?) but I am certain that it has been exceeded. Nice work, folks.

Second, I'm cheap. I want as much data as possible for the dollar.

My guess is that the best strategy would be to get as high definition images of the strata as possible, with as much spectral information as possible. Then, or rather simultaneously, pick out samples matching to the strata from the surrouding ejecta, and examine.

I'd really like to see the next rover run up a deep valley with many strata on its walls.