3000 martian days operating on the martian surface! I’m impressed.
It was supposed to last 90.
Huzzah for Opportunity. And a moment of silent reflection for Spirit!
In Spirit’s honor, I’ll link the much better rewrite of the downer version of Spirit’s fate that xkcd did.
Go, Oppy!
I remember when the first high-def surface image was beamed in from Spirit. I was mesmerized by it.
Well fuck, that was depressing.
I also think that’s how Wall•E should’ve ended.
Just another month until the Mars Science Laboratory lands!
How cool is that?
It amazes me how these stories aren’t THE headlines over what some president/dictator did or who’s rioting over oppression or a sports game and we have all this to explore.
The universe, to me. always lpoked like a board game with Earth as the “Start HERE” square and the rest of the playing board unfinished.
In addition it has traversed over 20 miles, I think that is impressive as well.
That’s 33 TIMES the original mission of 90 days. Astounding! I remember sitting at my desk downloading images from the Pathfinder rover. Yes, I was in my office with my computing device looking at THREE-DEE PICTURES FROM MARS! 
May I use that for my sig? PM the address to send royalties to, please…
Hey, wait a minute. My mom told me Spirit went to a live on a farm on Venus.
Carry on, Opportunity. If ever a machine deserved citizenship…
That will depend on the nature of the landing. I can’t believe how bloody complicated the whole delivery procedure is. Ballistic entry → parachute → rocket decel → rocket hover → sky crane → set down. If they end up with a funtional rover when it’s done, yes, that’ll be damn cool, but it seems like they’ve given themselves long odds…
It’s not that different from Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity. But, yes, very complex. The mission director for Pathfinder prepared a statement for when it crash landed, but did not prepare a statement for a successful landing. He didn’t think it would work, and he was running the project!
Heh.
Niel Armstrong’s first words in an alternate universe: “Holy Shit, I’m still alive!”
“Hey, hold my beer and watch this…” comes to mind.
Just imagine the info we’ll get if it succeeds. Should make for a very interesting next few years.