Opportunity And Spirit

This month marks the seventh anniversary of the landings on Mars of NASA's two rovers. Spirit landed January 4, 2004, and Opportunity followed on th 26th. That both successfully landed was an achievement in itself-- many missions to Mars have failed-- but the landings were only the beginning of what became an historic mission.

Each rover was scheduled to last only 90 days in the harsh, alien environment; both exceeded that time limit by many multiples of 90 days. Spirit covered almost 5 miles before getting stuck in deep sand last March; it has also been silent for several months. NASA is still holding out hope that contact with Spirit can be re-established over the next few months, but the truth is Spirit's extraordinay mission may be over. Opportunity, on the other hand, continues apace. It has covered nearly 17 miles so far, and is still going strong.