Written by Derek Kessler on
Monday, 15 October 2007
For a mission that was only slated to originally last 90 days, nearly four years later NASA has extended the mission of the twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, possibly through 2009. The rovers have survived through Martian winters and global dust storms, and have returned almost 200,000 images of our rusty planetary neighbor.
Sprit has recorded the formation and movement of heretofore unobserved dust devils (their distinctive paths have been noted by orbital probes), and Opportunity has analyzed exoised Martian rock layers that led to clues of how the planet has evolved. Both rovers have discovered meteorites on the surface, some that even match the composition of those found on Earth.
Opportunity is currently descending into the large Victoria Crater, where it will continue its analysis of the Martian strata. Spirit has climbed up onto a volcanic ridge dubbed 'Haven.'
For a mission that was only slated to originally last 90 days, nearly four years later NASA has extended the mission of the twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, possibly through 2009. The rovers have survived through Martian winters and global dust storms, and have returned almost 200,000 images of our rusty planetary neighbor.
