NASA's wonder rover Opportunity has set yet another benchmark, one that should prove difficult to copy by any of its contemporaries. Opportunity, it seems, has set a very high bar by completing a marathon distance of better than 26 miles, and doing so in 11+ years to boot! (the rover is a bit on the, dare I say, curious side and managed to stop and explore many times)
The rover (which has long since passed the "best used by" date) set the mark during a drive of 153 feet.
According to the NASA post:
According to the NASA post:
- Opportunity became the long-distance champion of all off-Earth vehicles, Last year, when it topped the previous record set by the former Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2 moon rover.
- Opportunity's original three-month prime mission in 2004 yielded evidence of environments with liquid water soaking the ground and flowing on planet’s surface. As the rover continued to operate far beyond expectations for its lifespan, scientists chose the rim of Endeavour Crater as a long-term destination. Since 2011, examinations of Endeavour's rim have provided information about ancient wet conditions less acidic, and more favorable for microbial life, than the environment that left clues found earlier in the mission
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