“Oppy” beats them all

The NASA rover Opportunity reaches the 40 kilometer milestone on Mars. No other rover on a strange planet has ever made it this far. At maxon motor, everyone is “tremendously proud”.

There's just no stopping Opportunity. For more than ten years, the Mars rover has been exploring the red planet and almost incidentally set a new long-distance record. As NASA announced, the almost 200 kg vehicle has already traveled more than 40 kilometers. This means Opportunity nullifies the previous record set 41 years ago by Soviet rover Lunochod 2. Back then, Lunochod 2 traveled approx. 39 km within five months, as researchers have now been able to calculate based on the tracks it left behind.
Not only NASA is ecstatic about the new record set by “Oppy”. At maxon motor in Obwalden (Switzerland), everyone is “tremendously proud” of the rover's performance, as CEO Eugen Elmiger revealed. After all, the motor specialist played a large role in this Mars mission, by contributing 43 drives. Brushed DC motors by maxon are responsible for driving the six wheels, the steering mechanism, the RAT (rock abrasion tool), the robotic arm, the cameras, and other components.

Traces of water found
In January 2004, Opportunity and its twin rover Spirit landed on Mars. Both vehicles exceeded all expectations, as they were actually only designed to last three months. Spirit collected data for six years, his brother is still active today. Opportunity is still a source of great joy to the scientists on Earth, even though it is starting to suffer from some old-age ailments. In January 2014, just in time for its ten-year anniversary, it found traces of water in the rock formations it was investigating at the Endeavour crater. And what's more: The data shows that several billions of years ago, this was the site of a lake, possibly with good conditions to support organic life.
In the meantime, the reliable rover keeps chugging along and will perhaps soon reach the marathon distance of 42 kilometers. In eager anticipation, the NASA researchers have dubbed this site Marathon Valley.

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