Mars exploration and the rovers and orbiters carrying it out have so far been fascinating!
I recently wrote a post about the Mars 2020 mission and rover that NASA are working on and this made me reflect on how awesome the rovers and orbiters of the past have been too allowing us to learn and see so much more of The Red Planet. This is slowly but surely paving the way for humans finally setting foot there.
Actually Opportunity is the record holder for driving on the surface that is not Earth's and has already run a Marathon. You can look at at this infographic from NASA about how this competition stood in 2014 even if the data is out of date for the still operational Opportunity and Curiosity rovers:
Curiosity is currently the most sophisticated piece of equipment humanity has on Mars and it's mission has also been quite successful and we can actually look at its journey so far:
Curiosity is currently examining the slope of the Vera Rubin Ridge and the planned route includes the top of the ridge as well.
But let's not forget the areal support unit that are the orbiters flying above, taking pictures and gathering data to help plan the routes for the rovers.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has scouted landing sites for seven different Mars missions and has sent back a total of 307 terabits of science data.
I'm really looking forward to the Mars 2020 mission and all that it will possibly uncover.
All images courtesy of NASA and their public domain image policy except this one which is CC.
