Not a joke but a real success we all should admire

[Dave (imported)]

>>My heroes are two small (and relatively dumb by human standards) robots on the planet Mars.

>>

Mars rovers celebrate seven years on Red Planet

One is still going strong, the other is trapped in sand, but may 'awake'

By Mike Wall

updated 1/3/2011 11:02:52 AM ET 2011-01-03T16:02:52

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40888151/ns ... nce-space/

As folks here on Earth prepare to mark the passage of another year, two NASA robots a world away are creeping up on a big milestone of their own: seven years on the surface of Mars.

The golf-cart-size rover Spirit landed on Mars on Jan. 4, 2004. Its twin, Opportunity, hit the planet's red dirt three weeks later, on Jan. 25. The rovers were originally supposed to tool around the Martian surface for a mere 90 days, looking for evidence of the planet's past water activity, but both have far outlasted their warranties.

In 2009, however, Spirit got trapped in soft sand and in March 2010, the rover stopped communicating with Earth. Still, mission scientists think the intrepid rover may wake up in the next few months. Meanwhile, Opportunity is still going strong, making its slow, steady way toward a huge crater called Endeavour.

In their nearly 2,500 days on the Martian surface, the two rovers have fundamentally changed scientists' understanding of Mars, finding lots of evidence that the Red Planet was once a much wetter, warmer place. Spirit and Opportunity have also paved the way for future rover missions by testing out technologies and showing just what is possible, researchers said. [ Q & A with Mars rover manager John Callas ]

And, on a more abstract level, the rovers have brought Mars closer than ever before, making another world accessible to scientists and laypeople alike.

"In addition to all the scientific discoveries, these rovers have made Mars a familiar place," John Callas, Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told Space.com. "Mars is now our neighborhood."

... there's more at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40888151/ns ... nce-space/

[JessicaH (imported)]

I agree, Dave. It has been a fascinating mission.

[Sweetpickle (imported)]

And to the dozens of grad students who spent their days and nights driving them around.