NEW YORK: Eleven years ago, NASA’s Opportunity rover touched down on Mars for what was supposed to be a 90-day mission. Since then, Opportunity has proven to be an engineering marvel by travelling almost 26 miles on the Martian surface, more than any other off-Earth surface vehicle.
Yes, a human-built craft has almost traveled a full marathon on the surface of another planet.
For this special occasion, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs put together a short video, detailing some of the rover’s landmark achievements.
Opportunity’s rover brother, Spirit, landed on Mars three weeks before but NASA lost contact with that vehicle in 2010. Until the more instrument-laden Curiosity landed in the summer of 2012, Opportunity continued working overtime, exploring the giant red rock first at the Victoria Crater until moving toward the Endeavour Crater.
