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Five Years of Spirit and Opportunity
Perhaps you will be pleased to know that your tax dollars have not been wasted. The two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on the Red Planet in January of 2004, have outlasted NASA scientists' expectations by about twenty times. Originally "the twins" had been intended to perform research for only three months, and January 2009 is their fifth anniversary!
Spirit and Opportunity have each been on an amazing journey of discovery. During the past five years, the two rovers have transmitted a quarter of a million images and 36 gigabytes of data. They have scaled hills and traversed craters, their odometers registering a total of over thirteen miles as of the end of 2008.
Scientists are encouraging the rovers to continue their work since they continue to mount whatever challenges they are given. Over the spring and summer of 2009, NASA plans to send Spirit to two destinations. The first is a mound south of the rover's current location, a plateau called Home Plate. The mound is suspected to consist of volcanic material. The second destination is a pit that goes by the name of Goddard. NASA thinks that the pit may have been caused by a volcanic explosion. As for Opportunity, NASA intends to send it to Endeavour Crater, about seven miles from the rover's current location.
Even with all the successes of the rovers, their life is unpredictable. Mars frequently experiences dust storms, and the dust settles on the rovers' solar panels, preventing them from collecting the energy needed to function. Fortunately, Mars's high winds eventually clean off the panels. In the winter of 2007, however, Spirit was nearly forced to be put to sleep because of the dust covering the rover. And recently, Spirit had to be put in a low-power state following yet another storm. NASA temporarily told Spirit not to send any data in order to conserve as much energy as possible, but as of February 2009, a Martian wind cleared its solar panels again.
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