Second Mars Rover Lifts Off
(From the September/October 2003 issue of StarDate magazine)
The second of NASA’s two Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, lifts off from Cape Canaveral on July 7. The first rover, Spirit, headed for Mars four weeks earlier. Both are scheduled to touch down in January, in sites that show evidence of water on Mars in the distant past. Europe’s Mars Express orbiter and Beagle 2 lander launched on June 2, and are scheduled to arrive at Mars at Christmas. Another Mars craft, Japan’s Nozomi, should arrive at Mars in December, too, although technical problems could keep it from fulfilling its mission.
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