Jet Propulsion Lab -- On challenging slopes that NASA's Mars rovers began exploring this month, both Spirit and Opportunity have found new surprises for the folks back home. Spirit rolled up to a knobby rock just past where the "Columbia Hills" start to rise from the surrounding plain.

Jet Propulsion Lab -- NASA's Mars rovers are delighting scientists with their extra credit assignments. Both rovers successfully completed their primary three-month missions in April. The Spirit rover is exploring a range of martian hills that took two months to reach.

By JOHN ANTCZAK PASADENA, Calif.

By ANDREW BRIDGES PASADENA, Calif.

By ANDREW BRIDGES LOS ANGELES (AP) -- NASA upgraded the bandwidth connection to its pokey twin Mars rovers, a boost that will allow scientists to send and receive data like pictures more quickly, a mission manager said Friday.The rate is now nearly five times the speed of home dial-up Internet connections.Engineers on the $820 million mission increased the Spirit rover's maximum data rate to 256,000 bits per second, using NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter as a martian relay satellite.The rate is twice the highest data rate previously used, mission manager Matt Wallace said.