Nothing Earth shattering here. Just neat that these two little robots are still truckin’. They were built, launched 27 millionmiles, and landed on Mars for about $820 million. One shuttle mission on the other hand will set you back $450 mil. Originally designed to last for 90 martian days (24 hours, 39 minutes), Spirit landed on January 4, 2004 and Opportunity on January 24, 2004.
They have continued to work and provide useful science and imaging since then in temperatures that range from -79 F to a bit above freezing, in a environment of fine-grained dust and howling winds without being touched by human hands. No oil change, not wipe down, nothing.
Remember, they were designed and built with technology from the mid-1990′s. At this rate they’ll outlast GM and Chrysler.
