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Mars Exploration Rovers: Spirit and Opportunity

Occurred 8 years ago

NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers were identical twin robots that helped rewrite our understanding of the early history of Mars.

Mission Type

Rover pair

Objective

Look for signs of past water on Mars

Destination

Mars

LandingS

(Spirit) Jan. 3, 2004 and (Opportunity) Jan. 24, 2004
This inforgraphic shows a Mars rover and highlights from their tenure on Mars - including 14 years lifespan, more than 300,000 raw images and as much as 28 miles traveled.
This infographic highlights NASA’s twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Spirit and Opportunity. The rovers landed on the Red Planet in 2004, in search of answers about the history of water on Mars. Spirit concluded its mission in 2010. Opportunity last communicated with Earth on June 10, 2018, as a planet-wide dust storm blanketed the solar-powered rover's location on Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Meet Spirit and Opportunity

A 3D model of the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD)

Mars Exploration Rovers In Depth

  • Rover Basics

    Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a rover take on human-like features, such as “heads,” and “bodies.” 

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  • Objectives

    New knowledge from the twin rovers uniquely contributed to meeting the four overarching goals of the Mars Exploration Program, while complementing data gathered through other Mars missions.

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  • Science

    By studying the rock record, Spirit and Opportunity confirmed that water was long standing on the surface of Mars in ancient times.

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  • Resources

    Visit the one-stop-shop for all Spirit and Opportunity multimedia.

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solar panels on rover seen from above
This self-portrait of Opportunity shows how the wind had cleaned much of the dust off the rover's solar panels. It combines multiple frames taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) through three different color filters from March 22 to March 24, 2014.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

Landing Sites

The rovers were targeted to land at sites on opposite sides of Mars that looked as though they were affected by liquid water in the past. Spirit landed at Gusev Crater, a possible former lake in a giant impact crater. Opportunity landed at Meridiani Planum, a place where mineral deposits suggested that Mars had a wet history.

Spirit's landing platform is surrounded by crumpled airbags in this photo of the landing site.
This image mosaic taken by the panoramic camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the rover's landing site, the Columbia Memorial Station, at Gusev Crater, Mars. This spectacular view may encapsulate Spirit's entire journey, from lander to its possible final destination toward the east hills. On its way, the rover will travel 250 meters (820 feet) northeast to a large crater approximately 200 meters (660 feet) across, the ridge of which can be seen to the left of this image. To the right are the east hills, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away from the lander. The picture was taken on the 16th martian day, or sol, of the mission (Jan. 18/19, 2004). A portion of Spirit's solar panels appear in the foreground. Data from the panoramic camera's green, blue and infrared filters were combined to create this approximate true color image.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
This image shows the middle section of an approximate true-color panorama, dubbed "Lion King," showing "Eagle Crater" and the surrounding plains of Meridiani Planum. It was obtained by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera on sols 58 and 60 using infrared (750-nanometer), green (530-nanometer) and blue (430-nanometer) filters. The full panorama comprises 558 images and more than 75 megabytes of data, the largest panorama captured by either of the Mars Exploration Rovers in 2004. It depicts a story of exploration including the Opportunity rover's lander, a thorough examination of the outcrop behind, a study of the soils at the near-side of the lander, a successful exit from Eagle Crater, and finally the rover's next desination, the large crater dubbed "Endurance." Original image and full panorama: https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05755
NASA/JPL/Cornell

Going the Distance

By the end of its mission, Spirit journeyed 4.8 miles (7.7 kilometers) on Mars. Opportunity held the off-Earth roving distance record after accruing 28.06 miles (45.16 kilometers) of driving on Mars, when it fell silent in June 2018. That record held until Oct. 11, 2026, when its successor, NASA's Mars rover Perseverance, rolled past Opportunity's mark to reach 28.10 miles (45.22 kilometers)... and counting.

An infographic compares driving distances on Mars and the Moon by various rovers, with NASA’s Perseverance leading as of Oct. 11, 2026, at more than 45 kilometers.
This infographic illustrates the distances driven by various rovers on the surface of Earth’s Moon and Mars. Of the vehicles shown, the NASA Mars rovers Perseverance and Curiosity are still operational and moving across the surface; the figures shown for those two are distances driven as of Oct. 11, 2026.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Spirit and Opportunity News and Features

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Article
5 Min Read

Establishing Crew Exposure Limits of Martian Dust

37 Min Read

Catching Up With Perseverance on Mars

6 Min Read

Advances in NASA Imaging Changed How World Sees Mars

Article
1 Min Read

Sunset on Mars

Image Article
5 Min Read

Perseverance Rover Witnesses One Martian Dust Devil Eating Another

Article
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