Episode 11 Spirit and Opportunity

In 2004, NASA landed two robotic explorers on opposite sides of Mars: Spirit and Opportunity. Designed to operate for just 90 Martian days, both rovers dramatically exceeded expectations and transformed our understanding of the Red Planet. In this episode of The Mars Explorer, we look at the development and goals of the Mars Exploration Rover mission, the remarkable landing system that delivered the rovers safely to the surface, and their search for evidence that liquid water once existed on Mars. Spirit and Opportunity would go on to become two of the most successful planetary explorers ever built—and set the stage for the more advanced Mars rovers that followed.