Opportunity on Mars: Eight years and counting

Members of the Mars Exploration Rovers Assembly, Test and Launch Operations team gather around Rover 2 and its predecessor, a flight spare of the Pathfinder mission's Sojourner rover, named Marie C...

This stereo vista from the panoramic camera (Pancam) of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity catches "Pillinger Point," on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, in the foreground. The image com...

This blink comparison aids evaluation of a drive by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 2,099th Martian day, or sol (Nov. 28, 2009).

This artist's illustration shows NASA's four successful Mars rovers (from left to right): Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and Curiosity. The image also shows the upcoming Mars 2020 rover and a h...

This full-circle panorama shows the terrain around the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the 3,071st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Sept. 13, 2012).

Researchers used NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to find a water-related mineral on the ground that had been detected from orbit, and found it in the dark veneer of rocks on the rim of En...

On the horizon in the right half of this panoramic view is an area of Mars informally named "Matijevic Hill," in commemoration of an influential rover-team leader.

This is one of the first images beamed back to Earth shortly after the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit landed on the red planet.

While driving eastward toward the northwestern flank of "McCool Hill," Spirit's wheels churned up the largest amount of bright soil discovered so far in the mission.

This stereo view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows "Lunokhod 2 Crater," which lies south of "Solander Point" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. Lunokhod 2 Crater is approximate...

Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004.

Cumulative driving by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity surpassed marathon distance on March 24, 2015, as the rover neared a destination called "Marathon Valley," which is middle ground of ...

This false-color image taken by the panoramic camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity highlights the spherules that speckle the rock dubbed Stone Mountain

This 360-degree stereo anaglyph of the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was taken on the rover's 171st sol on Mars (July 17, 2004).

6th Year Anniversary Graphic

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been on the western rim of Endeavour Crater in Meridiani Planum for about two years.

This 360-degree panorama was taken by "Dusty," a fully-working replica of NASA's Opportunity rover at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The panorama was taken as part of a software test. Memb...

This image shows a portion of the rim of "Erebus Crater" in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars.

John Callas has been a leader of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project since the project's inception in 2000, and has been the project manager since 2006.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove about 12 feet (3.67 meters) on May 8, 2012, after spending 19 weeks working in one place while solar power was too low for driving during the Martian...

This is the Spirit panoramic camera's "Lookout" panorama, acquired on the rover's 410th to 413th martian days, or sols (Feb. 27 to Mar. 2, 2005).

Two spacecraft engineers stand with a group of vehicles providing a comparison of three generations of Mars rovers developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The setting is JPL...

Since landing on Mars a year ago, NASA's pair of six-wheeled geologists have been constantly exposed to martian winds and dust.

NASA's Mars rovers keep getting bigger. This photo provides a comparison of the wheel sizes for three generations of them.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded this view of the summit of "Cape Tribulation," on the western rim of Endeavour Crater on the day before the rover drove to the top.