Vehicle NASA rover, Opportunity, has devoured 40 kilometers surface of Mars. Opportunity successful record-breaking man-made vehicle with the longest mileage on the planet other than Earth.
Movement as far as 48 meters carrying mileage Opportunity little over 40 kilometers and a record on the red planet, according to NASA, surpassing the previous record held by a rover or rover vehicle USSR, Lunokhod 2.
"It was incredible considering Opportunity only meant for a distance of one kilometer and was never designed for this distance," said Mars Exploration Rover project manager John Callas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "But even more important is not the distance that has been bagged Opportunity, but how much exploration and discovery that we have achieved."
Opportunity first landed on the plains of Meridiani Planum on Mars in 2004, shortly after the landing of the Spirit rover vehicle, which ceased operations four years ago. In 2011, Opportunity began exploring Endeavour Crater.
Opportunity departed from the earth to the surface of Mars in 2003
Opportunity successful if further until it reaches the official marathon distance - 42,195 kilometers - NASA reported that this robot will arrive at the location of the next major investigation named 'Valley Marathon.'
NASA's newest rover, Curiosity, arrived at Mars in 2012 and began to explore Gale crater.
Mars Exploration Rover mission has yielded important findings related to water activity on Mars, especially the ability of the red planet habitable.
The mission of NASA's next rover vehicle is scheduled for 2020.
Lunokhod 2 rover holds the previous record as far as 39.10 kilometers after landing on the moon in 1973 Soviet-made vehicles that completed the historic distance in less than five months, according to NASA calculations based recording trace Lunokhod 2.
