Ninth Anniversary Of The Mars Rover Opportunity, Still Going Strong

     Before Curiosity, there were two little droids that could...and no, I'm not talking about C-3PO and R2-D2. Back on January 25th, 2004, the rover Opportunity landed on Mars to begin a three month long mission. Nine years later and more than 22 miles traveled, Opportunity is still hard at work, making new discoveries. While Spirit succumbed in 2010 to loose Martian sand that trapped it, it's counter-part, the plucky Opportunity continues to trundle on, albeit backwards after suffering from a stuck front wheel that refuses to turn.

     Apparently Opportunity now suffers from an arthritic robotic arm as well, but it hasn't stopped the little rover from continuing on and doing more good science work. Both rovers have sent back thousands of images of the planet Mars that have amazed and dazzled us. For instance, on March 10th, 2005, Spirit caught the first ever video of a dust devil racing across the surface of Mars. See that historic footage HERE on Wikipedia.