Overnight, NASA/JPL's Opportunity Mars rover logged its 5,000th "Sol", on Mars (each "Sol" on Mars is about two-thirds of an hour longer than an Earth day, due to the distance Mars is from the sun -- and the differing speeds of rotation -- compared to Earth's rate of rotation, from the moment of one sunrise, to the next sunrise).
It was expected by JPL and NASA to survive 90 Martian "days" -- or sols. That would have been a success -- but it is well past fifty-five times that in service duration record, now. Opportunity has driven over 28 miles away from its landing site -- and is about one-third of the way down "Perseverance Valley," a shallow channel incised from a crater's rim. The rover has returned about 225,000 images, all promptly made public online.
That's a well-engineered rig.
And I am beaming, ear to ear, about it.
Now, with a clip of some poetry by Mr. Atkinson (in the image). . . here's to the future, what Sweet Will called. . . the "undiscovered country". . . . it too, calls forever to me. Sweetly haunts me, in fact. Grin.
नमस्ते
