Rovers Top Four Years On Mars
April 22nd 2008 12:13
Spirit used its front hazard-identification camera to capture this wide-angle view of its robotic arm extended
Sprit and opportunity have chalked up four years on Mars. These tiny technical rovers have made an incredible journey of survival. They have outlasted their initial three months life span and are still in operation. The twin rovers landed on Mars in January 2004 and NASA plans to extended the mission to 2009. To date, Spirit has driven 7.26 kilometers and had beamed back 102,000 images. Opportunity has driven 11.57 kilometers more than 94,000 images to its credit. Although a total of 18.83 kilometers traveled in four years may not seem much, you need to remember these rovers are tiny and must traverse the Martian landscape with care even with on- board sensors much of the navigation is instigated from Earth with a delay in sending commands back to Earth from Mars taking around 20 minutes for the round trip.
Wide angle view taken last November by Sprit of Husband Hill
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