Mars Rover Opportunity Sets U.S. Off-World Distance Record
May 23, 2013
Opportunity, the hardy Mars rover that has been exploring the red planet since 2004, has now driven farther on an extraterrestrial body than any other American rover. On May 15, Opportunity set a record of 22.220 miles (35.760 kilometers) after finishing a 263-foot (80-meter) drive along the rim of Endeavour Crater. The previous record was set by United States astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in December 1972 on the moon. The two astronauts, members of the Apollo 17 mission to the moon, drove a lunar roving vehicle, also known as a moon buggy, 22.210 miles (35.744 kilometers) across the lunar surface. If Opportunity continues to exceed expectations—the rover was designed for only a 90-day mission—it will soon break the all-time off-world distance record of 23 miles (37 kilometers). That record was set on the moon in 1973 by the remote-controlled Lunokhod 2 rover launched by the Soviet Union (now Russia).
Opportunity (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, were sent to Mars in 2003 as part of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission to study the history of water on the red planet. Their original 90-day mission turned out to be merely a warm-up. Both Spirit and Opportunity continued to gather information without any major setbacks for more than five years. In early 2009, Spirit became permanently trapped in a bed of loose soil. NASA ended that rover’s mission in 2011. But Opportunity is still exploring.
Opportunity examines one of its major discoveries--the first meteorite found on a world other than Earth. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University)
While traversing Mars, Opportunity found the first meteorite ever discovered on another world and rocky spheres created from water-bearing minerals. With Spirit, Opportunity also took the first photos of Earth-like clouds in the Martian sky from the planet’s surface and disovered convincing evidence that water once flowed across the Martian surface.
Additional World Book articles:
- Mars Pathfinder
- Mars Science Laboratory
- Space exploration
- The Search for Water on Mars (a special report)
