spacetoday.net: Mars rovers readied for extended missions

Posted: Sat, Mar 27, 2004, 10:27 AM ET (1527 GMT)
Mars Exploration Rover (NASA/JPL)

NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers will undertake extended trips seeking evidence of water on the planet, project officials said Friday. The rover Spirit, which has been on Mars for nearly three months, will leave the vicinity of the crater Bonneville in the next few days and head for a range of peaks called the Columbia Hills 2.3 kilometers away. Scientists decided to leave the rim of the crater, and not venture into it, because the crater did not go deep enough to punch through the layer of volcanic material that overlays the rover's landing site at Gusev Crater. The Columbia Hills, on the other hand, appear to be an "island" of older material poking through the younger volcanic layer, and may harbor evidence of past liquid water in the region. The trip to the hills will take 60-90 sols, or Martian days; engineers believe that the rovers can continue to operate for several months even though the official mission lifetime is only 90 days. On the other side of the planet, the rover Opportunity will soon begin a 750-meter trek to the crater Endurance to look for additional evidence of past standing water that the rover uncovered in its landing site, Eagle Crater.