Mars Exploration Rovers: Spirit and Opportunity: mission and targets
Data as of 2026-10-04
Dates declared by the archive
- Project start
- May 8, 2000
- Declared end
- February 13, 2019
The start the archive declares is the start of the project, not the launch, and an end it does not declare does not mean the mission is still running.
In Galaxy
Targets you can open in 3D:
A declared target is what the archive files the mission’s data under, not a record of observation.
Description published by the archive
NASA's twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on Mars on Jan. 3 and Jan. 24, 2004 PST (Jan. 4 and Jan. 25 UTC), respectively. The rovers were planned as 90-day missions to search for geological clues regarding environmental conditions on early Mars, and assess whether those environments were conducive to life. Spirit lasted 20 times longer than its original design, concluding its mission on March 22, 2010. Opportunity worked for nearly 15 years on Mars and broke the driving record for putting the most miles on its odometer, ending its mission on Feb. 13, 2019.
Quoted in English, as the archive publishes it, read on October 4, 2026.
Source
Identifier in the archive, which is its citation: urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:mission.mars_exploration_rover
NASA Planetary Data System, PDS Registry, investigation context products. Dates and targets read on September 29, 2026; how to cite the archive: https://pds.nasa.gov/datastandards/citing/