NASA extends mission for Mars rovers

[question everything]

NASA extends mission for Mars rovers

Last Updated Wed, 06 Apr 2005 16:01:33 EDT
CBC News

PASADENA, CALIF. - NASA has given the green light for the Mars rovers to prolong their mission on the Red Planet for another 18 months.

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The solar-powered, six-wheeled robots, called Opportunity and Spirit, landed on opposite sides of Mars in January 2004. Their main geological mission lasted three months at a cost of $820 million, with two $15-million extensions.

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Opportunity broke Spirit's record for total distance travelled on Mars by roving 4.8 kilometres, eight times its original goal.

Opportunity also set a new martian record of driving 220 metres in a single day. It is now within a few hundred metres of a region known as Etched Terrain, where scientists hope to find rocks eroded by wind.

Spirit is climbing rougher terrain on a rocky slope called Husband Hill, NASA said.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/04/06/Mars-rovers050406.html

[Ready4Change]

1. They think they can, they think they can...

Those rovers are amazing. WAY past their expected lifetimes.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. An attempt to distract us from the impending death of the Hubble

They've also announced they're cancelling all further Voyager work.