spacetoday.net: Mars rover sets record

Posted: Fri, May 21, 2010, 7:32 AM ET (1132 GMT)
Mars Exploration Rover (NASA/JPL)

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity now holds the record for the longest-lived spacecraft on the surface of Mars after breaking a record Thursday held by Viking 1. Opportunity, which landed on Mars on January 2004, continues to operate, and is currently traveling to Endeavour Crater. On Thursday Opportunity broke the record set by the Viking 1 lander of six years and 116 days of operations. Opportunity landed on Mars three weeks after its twin, Spirit, but that rover has been in hibernation for the last two months. Project officials hope as winter ends at Spirit's location the increased sunlight will recharge the rover's batteries and allow it to resume operations. Both rovers were originally planned to operate for only 90 days each.