The Rovers That Just Won't Quit

smooth wombat writes "Like the Energizer bunny, the two martian rovers just won't quit. Spirit, after climbing to the top of Husband Hill during the past year, spent two months examining rocks at the top of the hill and scientists confirmed that those rocks were similar to rocks found along the side of the hill indicating that Husband Hill is probably the result of an impact crater. It will take about two months for Spirit to make its way down the hill after which the next target will be a feature called Home Plate located about a half mile away. Opportunity is exploring the northern rim of Erebus Crater, the largest crater between already-explored Endurance Crater and its next destination, Victoria Crater. The rovers were only supposed to last three months but have been operating for almost two years. NASA has also released a 360 degree panorama of images taken by Spirit as it explored Gustav Crater."

Comments

Call me a troll but...

[t_allardyce]

Someone needs to be fired for this badly estimated over-engineering, if something is designed to last a few months and instead lasts a few years then you've made a mistake.

Just another in a long line...

[DaveAtFraud]

Actually, NASA has a tendency to create planetary exploration vehicles that greatly exceed their required life-span. Specific examples are the Pioneer and Voyager space craft.

When you're sending some gizmo umpty million miles away, it's a good idea to make sure that everything "just works" or has a backup. It's kind of hard to get a repairman out there to fix something.