Opportunity rover and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter get two more years of life
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028220
Nature : A review and prioritization of NASA’s planetary science missions is expected to be released tomorrow. Two of the missions that were thought to be under threat of cancellation appear to have been granted two more years of operation: the Martian rover Opportunity and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Opportunity, which has been suffering from a variety of mechanical problems, has been operating for 10 years and has traveled more than 40 km on the surface of Mars. LRO completed its primary task of mapping potential landing spots for astronauts in 2010 and has been imaging recent meteorite impacts. Also under review, but not considered likely to have their funding cut, are the Martian rover Curiosity and the Saturn-orbiting Cassini . Still unknown are the fates of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter , the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and an instrument onboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express.
