Opportunity Mars Rover Finishes Marathon

[Waspie_Dwarf]

NASA's Opportunity Mars Rover Finishes Marathon, Clocks in at Just Over 11 Years

There was no tape draped across a finish line, but NASA is celebrating a win. The agency’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity completed its first Red Planet marathon Tuesday -- 26.219 miles (42.195 kilometers) – with a finish time of roughly 11 years and two months.

"This is the first time any human enterprise has exceeded the distance of a marathon on the surface of another world," said John Callas, Opportunity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "A first time happens only once."

The rover team at JPL plans a marathon-length relay run at the laboratory next week to celebrate.

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[bubblykiss]

Robots making Pheidippides look like a chump again for running just 26 miles and 385 yards and then dying.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Robots making Pheidippides look like a chump again for running just 26 miles and 385 yards and then dying.

Yes, but to be fair he did it in considerably less than eleven years.

[Merc14]

90 day mission indeed.

[JesseCuster]

Wow! An amazing mission to last 45 times as much as its original goal.

Godspeed little rover rude!