Dec. 29, 2008 Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726
Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278 RELEASE: 08-337 MARS ROVERS NEAR FIVE YEARS OF
SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA rovers Spirit and
Opportunity may still have big achievements ahead as they
approach the fifth anniversaries of their memorable landings on
Mars. Of the hundreds of engineers and scientists who cheered at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, Calif., on
Jan. 3, 2004, when Spirit landed safely, and 21 days later when
Opportunity followed suit, none predicted the team would still
be operating both rovers in 2009. "The American taxpayer was
told three months for each rover was the prime mission plan,"
said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The
twins have worked almost 20 times that long. That's an
extraordinary return of investment in these challenging
budgetary times." The rovers have made importa