In 36 times the American Mars Rover opportunity has exceeded his space mission on Mars

January 24, 2004, the Rover opportunity landed on the surface of Mars in a region called Meridiani Planum. Since that time, he was at its six wheels already 35,46 kilometers.

To the surprise of scientists from the American Space Agency, a research mission "opportunity" exceeded 36 times. Originally, it was scheduled for three months. At this stage, taking into account the technical characteristics and the state of the solar panels and rechargeable batteries Rover, opportunity" can work on Mars 10 years.

This month, the Rover opportunity", using its on-Board cameras and instruments installed on the automatic hand-manipulator, studies Akimovka 22 km-long endeavour crater.

On the panoramic pictures shown above and you have taken using the camera Pancam, shows investigational at this time of the Martian region "Matijevic Hill". In the area of the American chemical laboratory studies the surface rocks and takes pictures for their subsequent submission to the Ground.

In recent years, the Rover is powered only by solar panels. Clean solar panels from dust occurs due to natural winds of Mars, which allows the device to perform extensive geological studies of the planet. In mid-2012 duration of the mission reached 3000 Sol, making it the longest in the history of Mars. The previous record in 2245 Sol belonged susaeva apparatus Viking 1.