NASA OKs Mission Extension for Twin Rovers

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA has approved up to 18 more months of operations by the twin rovers that have discovered evidence of a watery past on Mars.

The extension foresees the rovers operating until September 2006, NASA said in a statement Tuesday.

Both of the solar powered, six-wheel robot geologists landed on the Red Planet in January 2004 and have completed their three-month prime missions and 11 months of mission extensions.

The space agency did not announce the cost of the mission extension. The original mission cost $820 million and there have been two $15 million extensions.

Ghassem Asrar, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said the rovers have proven their value with major discoveries and were still healthy.

“We now have to make long-term plans for the vehicles because they may be around for quite a while,” said Jim Erickson, rover project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

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On the Net:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mer-main.html

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov