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Friday May 29, 2009
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The Opportunity Mars rover has now passed the 10-mile mark on the red planet's surface, according to Softpedia. The milestone comes more than five years after the rover landed on Mars along with its twin, Spirit, on opposite sides of the planet. Opportunity's achievement also comes as Spirit remains stuck in some loose terrain.
For the most part, Opportunity is in excellent condition, although it is slowed somewhat by a little wear on several of its mechanical parts. Spirit, though, has had a jammed wheel for the past three years and has been driving backwards ever since--and is now stuck to boot.
"For a vehicle that was designed to travel 1 km over its lifetime, going 16+ km is a pretty substantial accomplishment!" said Steve Squyres, the project's lead scientist and based at Cornell University, in an interview with Space. Opportunity is currently on its way to Endeavor crater.
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May 29, 2009 5:13 PM
Go Oppy go! :D Here's to another 10 miles!
Also, poor Spirit! I hope it gets loose soon!
May 30, 2009 9:44 AM
it should have been designed to go alot further.
May 30, 2009 11:04 PM
@mjd: Actually, Spirit and Oppy have been traveling much longer and have done much much more than they were designed to do! They were designed to survive Mars for about 90 days, and they've been in service now for FIVE YEARS. It's incredible!
They've done far more than we designed or even dreamed they would do, and the knowledge we've gained because of them is remarkable.
May 31, 2009 6:49 AM
alan h,
Respectfully, are you able to mention here one or two examples of, as you say, "the knowledge we've gained"?
May 31, 2009 11:30 AM
Absolutely, whiplash:
Two of my favorite discoveries thanks to the mars rovers are the now famous "spherules," remember a while back when we saw these black and white photos of spherical particles mixed in with the dirt and dust of mars? Some people thought they might be indicative of life, but in the end they turned out to really be rock that had apparently been worn away by what may have been water or another liquid? That discovery sparked the mission that launched the Phoenix lander, which did discover proof of water!
Additionally, Oppy's landing position turned out to be what was likely some kind of sea on Mars, and the analysis of the rocks and soil there has told us a lot about the types of materials in the martian soil and how similar it is with terrestrial coastlines. It's all really exciting and leading us closer to being able to determine when Mars may have looked a lot more like Earth, if it ever did.
But hey, don't just take my word for it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_information_from_the_Mars_Exploration_Rover_mission
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/
http://www.space.com/marsrover/
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/science/jan-june09/mars_05-21.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/top10_rover_discovery.html
June 1, 2009 8:07 AM
It sounds like they have already exceeded their expectations.