14 DAY TRIAL // Since landing on the surface of the Red Planet, on January 25, 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity has traveled more than 21.4 miles (34.4 kilometers). NASA has just released this image indicating the course of the robot's journey over the past 8 years.
The data included in this image cover 2951 Martian days, called sols. Opportunity has just begun moving again, after standing still for the past 19 weeks. It was parked on Greeley Haven, and outcrop on the rim of the giant Endeavour crater, throughout the Martian winter, the rover's fifth.
Over the winter months, the robot exposed as much of its solar panels to the Sun as possible, and conserved energy in order to endure. Unlike its defunct twin, Spirit, this machine does not need to hibernate during the Martian winter.
The MER mission is undoubtedly the most successful ever sent to the surface of the neighboring world. If the rovers had “lived” for just three months, their intended lifetime, then around 20 robotic missions would have been needed to compile the same amount of information.