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  Home arrow News arrow News from Space arrow what a long, strange trip

 
what a long, strange trip | Print |  E-mail
Written by staff   
Friday, 09 January 2009

On January 3, 2009, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit celebrated five years on Mars, and the craft is still functioning, despite a mission planned initally for only 90 days; so is its twin, the rover Opportunity.The rovers have returned a quarter-million images, driven more than 13 miles, and relayed more than 36 gigabytes of data back to Earth, according to NASA.

“We keep setting the bar higher for what these rovers can do,” said Frank Hartman, a JPL rover driver, in a recent NASA release.“This has turned into humanity’s first overland expedition on another planet,” said Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the rover science instruments.

 
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