Delta 2

The Mars Rovers have captured the hearts of Americans, if not the whole world, and are becoming known as ‘the little Rovers that could...’. Designed for a 3-month life span, Spirit and its cousin Opportunity have already beat that milestone by more than 30 times, and continue to amaze and astound their keepers and the watching public, more than 4 years past their design life. They provided concrete evidence that there has been water on Mars, although the first evidence of existing water (underground water ice) came from Mars Odyssey, an orbiting observatory launched before the rovers. The buried water ice has just recently been verified by Mars Phoenix Lander.