Congrats to the engineers and drivers
No matter how you look at it, this is quite an achievement.
NASA celebrated a milestone in space exploration on Tuesday when the Opportunity Mars rover's odometer clicked past 26.219 miles (42.195 kilometres) – marking the first time a man-made object has completed a marathon's distance on the surface of another planet. "This mission isn't about setting distance records, of course; it' …
"It amazes me how they drastically underestimated its life. I would have insisted on robotic brush to clean the solar panels though."
After the experience with the Sojourner rover it was deemed lighter to give Opportunity and Spirit larger solar panels than to add a brush. However, multi-year lifespans were probably not anticipated.
I don't know about how it will turn out, but they need to relay, given their (sedentary) lifestyle. Just watch an episode of _The Big Bank Theory_ (a documentary) and imagine the characters running even a mile. Just doesn't compute.
p.s. My brother-in-law does need the exercise but has a bad knee (sorry Wayne!).
Well done to all involved. Virtual beer over there for you -->
The next rover, however, is likely to be considerably improved, given what we now know about Mars thanks to these two.
When designing equipment for 90 days use, you don't need to know how long the components will last, you're just trying to keep the solar panels clean. Now that challenge is met, thanks to martian wind, I bet those same engineers could build a rover capable of circum navigating the planet, and I for one, would pay to make that happen. Over to you NASA; if you want to appeal internationally for funding, I'm in, and so is my wife.
"The next rover, however, is likely to be considerably improved, given what we now know about Mars thanks to these two."
I'm curious about what made you say that although personally I'd like to see a nuclear powered tank armed with laser, drills and robotic arms, assuming no one has already done that.