Mars Rovers Shrug at Dust Storms, Get Back To Work

After surviving weeks of crippling dust storms, strong enough to blot out the sun almost entirely, NASA's pair of Martian rovers are back in action, the space agency said.

Researchers are looking eagerly this week at Opportunity, which will launch a storm-delayed trip into the half-mile-wide Victoria Crater. Here – as can be seen in the attached picture – lies an exposed layer of stone researchers think might preserve evidence of conditions prevailing millions of years ago, when the atmosphere was very different than today.

Spirit, the other Energizer-bunny rover, reached its long-term destination last week, climbing onto a plateau dubbed Home Plate, NASA said. The rock here shows a layered structure that may provide clues to earlier interaction between lava and water, scientists hope.

NASA scientists are ecstatic that the little rovers are still ticking,
43 months into a mission that was would have been called successful if it lasted 3 months:

"These rovers are tough. They faced dusty winds, power starvation and other challenges -- and survived. Now they are back to doing groundbreaking field work on Mars. These spacecraft are amazing," said
Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington.

Sure makes me feel less like complaining about the weather here.

Mars Rovers Survive Dust Storms, Ready for Next Objectives [NASA Press Release]

(Photo: Edge of Victoria Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)