Over a year after the Spirit and Opportunity rovers arrived on the Red Planet, NASA has allocated another 18 months worth of funding for the robotic craft. The original mission for the rovers was only intended to last about 3 months, but Martian winds have been doing a natural squeegee job on the rover’s solar cells, giving them a renewed lease on life.
The Mars Rover project has been a fantastic success, far outperforming their mission objectives and sending back more valuable data on Mars than any previous mission. This renewal of their mission is a testiment to the technical skill of the rover design team. Hopefully Sprit and Opportunity will be able to provide many more insights into the Red Planet before their mission ends.
Maybe if the Mars Rover hangs around long enough, the American Flag that Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson-Lee thought NASA Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin left there will be located.