Roving the Red Planet

Mars Rovers Celebrate Five Years on the Martian Surface Spirit and Opportunity continue to transmit data after a half decade of service
NASA / JPL / EPA

The Wide View
Spirit provided the data for this image, stitched together from several separate frames, in January 2004. When NASA first announced the rover missions, no one expected that they would last for so long. The original mission profile suggested that they would operate for approximately three months apiece.

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