Mission Duration
Actually, the rovers were supposed to be on the surface of Mars forever (or until a museum crew came to take them back home for an exhibit). They were supposed to OPERATE for three months.
The Mars Rover Opportunity has started its exploration of the Victoria crater. The images it is sending back suggest any previous (or current, but hidden) inhabitants of the red planet had a bit of a thing for crazy paving. Opportunity starts exploring Victoria crater NASA says it has checked to make sure the rover can climb …
It's all very well completing this back-up drive over the crater rim to prove they can do it, but the only way to do that is to drive into the crater in the first place, Shirley? What if they *hadn't* succeeded? NASA could hardly find some Martian farmer and offer to buy him a beer if he brings his tractor over for a quick tow, could they?
After waiting weeks for the Martian winds to clean up Rover, NASA boffins are now confident they can get her down this crater and back out again after a jolly good sniff about.
Winds + rocks = sands. Sands + gravity = filled holes in the ground. Does nobody else see that Mars is different from the Mojave? So different in fact that there's a crisis of scientific explanation they don't want to talk about?