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thatcrazycajunCNN reports here that NASA's plucky little Mars rover 'bots, Spirit and Opportunity, are now into their sixth year (!!) of exploration and testing, nearly five years past their originally engineered lifespans. Spirit landed on the Red Planet this date in 2004, with its sibling following just 21 days later. In that time:
They [have] returned 250,000 images, covered more than 21 kilometers (13 miles), climbed a mountain, descended into craters, struggled with sand traps and aging hardware and survived dust storms...
And given SF authors like Kim Stanley Robinson and Ben Bova much more research material for their Mars novels, too. You go, little fellas. Keep on showing the rest of the world that good old American know-how and engineering still rule the spaceways. And a great big "attaboy" to the folks at JPL and the rest of the gang responsible for building and launching these hardy steel-and-silicon explorers.
They [have] returned 250,000 images, covered more than 21 kilometers (13 miles), climbed a mountain, descended into craters, struggled with sand traps and aging hardware and survived dust storms...
And given SF authors like Kim Stanley Robinson and Ben Bova much more research material for their Mars novels, too. You go, little fellas. Keep on showing the rest of the world that good old American know-how and engineering still rule the spaceways. And a great big "attaboy" to the folks at JPL and the rest of the gang responsible for building and launching these hardy steel-and-silicon explorers.
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