MER

From NewMars

The well-named Spirit and Opportunity rovers are twins.

As of sol 654, Spirit has driven 5,143.63 meters (3.20 miles).

As of sol 630 (Nov. 1, 2005), Opportunity had driven a total of 6373.6 meters (3.96 miles).

The ever-delightful Mars Exploration Rovers. (2004-?)

New Mars discussions

The adventures of these rovers were commented upon by us, blow by exciting blow in a series of topics on the forums:

• Topic # 1 (Jan 02 - Jan 12)

• Topic # 2 (Jan 12 - Jan 28)

• Topic # 3 (Jan 28 - Mar 01)

• Topic # 4 (Mar 01 - Mar 23)

• Topic # 5 (Mar 23 - Apr 23)

• Topic # 6 (Apr 23 - Jun 13)

• Topic # 7 (Jun 13 - Oct 07)

• Topic # 8 (Oct 07 - Feb 15)

• Topic # 9 (Feb 16 - ??? )

A pretty impressive way to view imagery from the rovers is the Midnight Mars Browser (MMB), a sophisticated viewer, which downloads the latest imagery JPL puts up their website, automatically stiches them toghether and let you view the surroundings in a virtual 3D environment, which you can zoom in and out, scroll, pan etc. Either in black and white, green-red glasses 3D or in color, depending on how much data has been sent by the rovers.

Januari 24 auto-stitch by MMB.

References

• http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/

• Encyclopedia Astronautica