The Twin Kind

In 2003, two very interesting geologists twins were born to search the unknown located millions of miles away. Their names? Spirit and Opportunity. How they got their names is an inspiring way. A 9-year-old girl named Sofi Collis wrote an essay that was chosen out of about 10,000 essays(nasa.gov). In her essay she wrote,

I used to live in an orphanage. It was dark and cold and lonely. At night, I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better. I dreamed I could fly there. In America, I can make all my dreams come true. Thank you for the 'Spirit' and the 'Opportunity.

It’s really remarkable that at such a young age a little girl was able to catch the eyes of NASA in naming the infamous twin rovers.

Following the naming of Spirit and Opportunity, they were then tested and sent off to Mars to follow in the footsteps of their elder, Sojourner.

After touching down on Mars in 2004 they began their quest. Both Spirit and Opportunity were only supposed to function for 92 days. They were also predicted to only roam Mars’ surface for 3/4s of a mile(Ward). That means they would travel about 20 yards per day. That’s a long game of football if you ask me.

Unfortunately, bad weather was in the forecast. Waves of dust storms threatened the rover’s lives by covering their solar panels with dust. If the dust covered their solar panels then it would decrease their power generation(Chavis). Luckily, the rovers pulled through. But in 2009, Spirit caught itself stuck in soft soil and it couldn’t get out. Even though it’s handicapped, Spirit fights on and functions as a stationary science laboratory(Chavis). Even still, through all the odds, Opportunity still continues to keep on roving.

These two twins are history-making explorers. Sprit and Opportunity were larger than the previous rover, Sojourner. So by continuing to make bigger and bigger exploration rovers you begin to have bigger goals. These are merely stepping stones into the human frontier. Within the next century, we could possibly have a human exploration to Mars. In only a decade we were able to send 3 rovers to Mars, one bigger than the last. That’s a huge progress for scientists.

They want to keep progressing forward. Soon they’ll try to build a Mars vehicle that will be big enough to fit humans on it, and they’ll try to send it to Mars as a test. Once we get that done it won’t be long until they want people to go.

Spirit

Opportunity

It’s time to close up.

This is BE#7

Signing out…

Works Cited

Chavis, Jason C. "Awesome Facts About the Mars Rover." Bright Hub. N.p.,

9 May 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/68898.aspx>.

"Girl With Dreams Names Mars Rovers." NASA. N.p., 8 June 2003. Web. 27 Sept. 2012.  

<http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/mars_rover_names.html>.

Ward, Logan. "PM Mechanical Lifetime Achievement Award:

Spirit and Opportunity Mars Rovers." Popular Mechanics. N.p., 3 Oct. 11. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/pm-lifetime-achievement-award-spirit-and-opportunity-mars-rovers>.