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Opportunity Runs the First Martian Marathon

Started by Waspie_Dwarf , Jul 20 2012 09:39 AM
mars mars exploration rovers opportunity rover nasa

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#1    Waspie_Dwarf

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 09:39 AM

Opportunity Runs the First Martian Marathon


science.nasa.gov said:

With all the fanfare about Mars rover Curiosity landing on the Red Planet in August 2012, it’s easy to forget that there’s already a rover on Mars—an older, smaller cousin setto accomplish a feat unprecedented in the history of Solar System exploration.

Mars rover Opportunity is on track to complete the first extraterrestrial marathon.

A marathon is 26.2 miles. When Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004, NASA’s goal was to have the rover travel a meager 600 meters. However, no one knew what kind of “runner” Opportunity would turn out to be. As of July 2012, Opportunity has traveled almost 22 miles – only 4.2 miles short of a full marathon.

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#2    Kludge808

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 10:15 AM

Opportunity has been very interesting to watch since it landed much as its late & lamented brother Spirit was.  Like other NASA projects, they both outlasted their life expectancy by a wide margin so Curiosity has its work cut out for it in keeping up with that sort of "tradition."  In the meantime, though, there's not a lot to stop Opportunity from continuing for another 26.4 miles.
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#3    Super-Fly

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 12:43 PM

Be cool if it did.

Thanks,

Super-Fly!!3

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