Spirit and Opportunity Are Back Online

PinkyGigglebrain sends us news that the Mars rovers have survived the dust storms that have swept the surface of Mars for the last 6 weeks. How well they survived remains to be seen. Due to a combination of dust still suspended in the atmosphere and dust on the rovers' solar panels, they are only producing about half the power they normally would. The article is a little sparse on the exact health of the rovers but it's good to know they are still with us.

These are hardy/lucky little machines!

[Sneakernets]

I'm so glad these machines made it, I was seriously concerned if we would get any more information from these rovers. From what I heard, it would have been many months for replacements to arrive, and that would only be if there would be replacements at all.

Go, Spirit and Opportunity!

Re:Ideas for next time?

[scoot80]

I think getting an extra arm with a dust wiping cloth would be a good idea too. Maybe two arms - one that sprays Windex, and the other one to polish. Might be a little energy inefficient, but quicker.

Hundreds Of Years Later...

[Anonymous Coward]

...someone deciphers the alien lettering scrawled in the dust on Opportunity's solar panel as reading "wash me."

Re:Amazing

[MouseR]

Designed for a 90 day mission, and here we are at over 13 times that number of days

Well, the S.S. Minnow's crew was out only for a 3 hour tour and see how long they lasted on that island?

What????? The rovers are still working????

[chan518]

Cher or the rovers, which will die first?

Re:Amazing

[Tablizer]

I used to think that there was just NO WAY that R2D2 could take the kind of crap he took and still survive... who'd of thought. Those robots are completely amazing to me.

The Force is with them.
       

Re:March On Little Soldiers

[Anonymous Coward]

I say, point them at each other and let them try to meet up.

Then we can have them fight to the death.

Spirit and Opportunity Are Back Online

[niceone]

So they'll be spending the next couple of days catching up on their e-mail and a backlog of facebook stuff.

Re:Simple Advice

[fractoid]

The Walrus and the Carpenter decline your proposal based on an earlier feasibility study on a much smaller scale.