NASA Rover Opportunity Marks 10-Year Anniversary of Landing on Mars Today

On January 24, 2004, NASA's rover Opportunity landed on Mars and was expected to endure a three-month adventure. Well, that adventure has been prolonged a bit, because today is Opportunity's 10-year anniversary and it is still exploring Mars.

"No one ever expected this - that after 10 years a Mars exploration rover would continue to operate and operate productively," project manager John Callas said Thursday, via a report from Fox News.

As these last 10 years have passed, Opportunity has continued to make meaningful discoveries for NASA. While poking around at Endeavor Crater (the largest of five craters that Opportunity has come across), Opportunity has helped scientists discover that the rocks in the crater were about 4 billion years old, the oldest found on Mars.

Opportunity never seems to crumble under pressure, either. In 2012, NASA decided to send another rover, Curiosity, to Mars. Curiosity sported new snazzy tools since it was eight years younger than Opportunity. In fact, it quickly overshot Opportunity and became the world's favorite rover. But it didn't take long for Opportunity to steal back the spotlight. Earlier this month, it kicked up a rock shaped like a jelly doughnut, which scientists determined was unlike any rock they had seen on Mars before.

This is Opportunity's sixth winter on Mars, and later in the year it is scheduled to head south toward an area known as the "motherlode." It is a clay-rich spot that should yield more discoveries for the persistent Opportunity.

Since the cost of these rover missions are wildly expensive (Opportunity costs $14 per year to maintain), NASA periodically reviews such missions and determines where the money will continually be invested. The next decision on Opportunity will come later this year, but after all of the discoveries it has made it's hard to believe that its operation will cease.