Posted: Wed, Sep 22, 2004, 7:48 AM ET (1148 GMT)
The missions of the twin Mars Exploration Rovers have been extended again, this time for six months, NASA officials announced Tuesday. Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on Mars in January and long ago exceeded their original 90-day lifetimes, are still in good shape and returning useful data, leading NASA to extend their missions through next March. The rovers recently emerged from a 12-day communications blackout when Mars passed behind the Sun, and are restarting operations this week. Scientists hope to send Spirit higher into the Columbia Hills in Gusev Crater, while Opportunity will soon emerge from Endurance crater to travel several kilometers to another crater. The mission extension will cost NASA $2.8 million a month in operations. To reduce costs mission scientists will spend less time on site at JPL, and will instead teleconference from their home institutions. Rover operations will also go down from seven days a week to five from October in December; the extra down time will allow the rovers' batteries to recharge.

Related Links:

•  Florida Today article
•  AP article
•  NASA press release