Opportunity Rover Rolls past the 12-Mile spot

Opportunity has clicked more than the 12-mile mark of driving on Mars. That's 19.31 kilometers, and more than 32 times farther than the victory goal for the mission when the rover landed six years ago.

This milestone was reached on Opportunity's last drive on Jan. 28, 2010, as the rover reached the ejecta blanket of material surrounding the youngest crater to be explored by Opportunity on Mars, "Concepcion" crater.

"This is a truly remarkable success to drive so far for so long on another planet," said Bill Nelson, engineering team chief for the Mars Exploration Rovers at JPL. "In fact, in 2009 we covered more ground than any prior year since landing in 2004, about 5.3 Kilometers [3.3 miles]," he said.

To reach this target, Opportunity's drive motors made more than 38 million revolutions. "This year and next will be a 19-kilometer [11.8-mile] marathon run from Victoria crater to Endeavour crater," said Nelson. "We will more than two times all previous driving. We've made great progress so far and we have no plans to slow down."

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