von Kármán Lecture: The Mars Exploration Rovers: A Decade of Exploration

It was inconceivable that a rover mission designed for 90 days of operation would still be operating after a decade in the harsh environment of the Red Planet's frigid surface. In spite of our limited human imagination, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is still functioning and exploring ten years after landing on Mars. For a decade now, the rover has been dutifully conducting field geology on the Martian surface day after day. Opportunity and her twin Spirit have traversed great plains, climbed mountains, descended into deep craters and survived rover-killing dust storms and frigid winters. As the rovers move, each day becomes a brand new mission with new sights, new geology and new opportunities to explore. The rovers have made significant scientific discoveries in understanding the Red Planet, finding evidence of past habitable environments that could possibly have supported life. Although Spirit's mission concluded after an unimaginable six years, exciting adventures of exploration still lie ahead for the still very capable Opportunity rover even after ten years.

Please join us for a special celebratory 10th anniversary event on Thursday evening in Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus. In addition to John Callas, guest speakers will include Mars Exploration Rover Principal Investigator Steve Squyres, Bill Nye and members of the Mars Rover driving team.