Mars Rovers Still Going Strong

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 6, 2005, 6:20 pm

A projected three month mission has turned into 36 months. Give those guys a raise and make sure they're working on our next mission as well!

Mars Rover Has Mission Extended

NASA announced today that it will extend the mission of the Mars rovers for another 18 months through September 2006. The rovers have been considered an overwhelming success thus far, bringing back new data about the mysterious red planet.

NASA spokesman Ghassem Asrar said in a released statement, 'We are extending their mission through September 2006 to take advantage of having such capable resources still healthy and in excellent position to continue their adventures. The rovers have proven their value with major discoveries about ancient watery environments on Mars that might have harbored life.'

There are two rovers presently on Mars, each located on opposite sides of the planet. One is named 'Opportunity,' the other 'Spirit.'

The original mission was supposed to last three months and cost $820 million. This is the third extension of the rovers' mission. It is hoped that there will be additional discoveries to increase our knowledge of Mars.

*~*stragi*~* · Post by ***~*stragi*~*** » April 6, 2005, 7:15 pm

I'm begining to believe that it was meant to last multiple years, but they just faked a time to make themselves look uber and get more funding. Not that I mind or anything, this stuff is pretty sweet

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » April 6, 2005, 9:12 pm

They have admitted they pulled a Scotty, but in reality they were shooting for about a year, so even they are psyched now

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » April 6, 2005, 9:56 pm

3 months was probably a worse case scenario. Still awesome to see them going strong though.

Homercles · Post by **Homercles** » April 7, 2005, 1:45 pm

a couple months back a dust storm swirled up around one of the rovers (Opportunity I think). The gusts of winds from that storm cleaned the accumulated dust from the solar panels, thus raising the performance efficiency about 60%.

Who knows, with timely dust storms, the rovers could be effective for 20 more years

masteen · Post by **masteen** » April 8, 2005, 4:30 pm

These rovers are on the same sets used to fake the moon landing, just shot through a ruddy filter, SUCKERS!