SPIRIT stands over 5 wheels

On Friday JPL announced that mars rover Spirit lost one of her 6 wheels but this problem don’t change this rover role in the space exploration.
the journey begins two years ago , but the story of golden age of Red planet exploration begins at 2000, when JPL challenges with exploring Mars with 2 failed missions.
Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander both, failed in one exploration season 1998.
Review of these failure shows that exploration of Mars more than any thing need a great managing.
Dr.Foruz Naderi, JPL ORIGINS manager named as Mars Exploration Program.
As first mission in this new age, Mars odyssey orbiter successfully entered its orbit but this is only first step for this program to changed into most popular exploration programs in recent years.
in 2002 JPL send twin mars robotic rovers to Mars .
Spirit and Opportunity land in the 2 side of the Red planet but when their airbags touched surface of ancient martin see, nobody believed that after 2 years they continued exploring.
A group of best engineering’s and scientists under a great managing entered a usual mission to the history of legends.
When Spirit and Opportunity successfully landed on Mars, I asked Dr.Naderi about mission team dreams and he said that many of scientists here hope that Spirit will reach to Columbia Hills but design and hard environment of mars make this hope very little.
Now after 2 years dreams became to reality and Spirit looked around the landing site from the top of Hosbend Hill.
2 rovers designed for only 3 month operation on the mars. “But we think that maybe they can continue their operation for 2 additional weeks”, Dr.Naderi Said.
they primary target was found some evidences about existence of liquid water on the Mars surface in ancient time .
The begins they mission as 2 robotic geologist and very soon (before first 3 months) they find these evidences.
Now we sure that both sites, in long time ago have liquid water.
during this time both rover faced to some challenges like some errors in one of rovers memory and also some mechanical problem for each one. but a group of genus specialists support this mission and both rovers passed these challenges.
they finished their primary mission before they deadline.
“They worked more than we think, if I want to mark them, I must find some mark more than 20/20, they reached to their targets and did more” Dr.Naderi said in live interview with me in “ASEMAN-E-SHAB” an Iranian Live TV show about astronomy and space that going on air every Saturday in IRIB Chanel 4.
Time passed but hard condition of Mars cant stop ROVERS and they became more than only two exploration rovers.
They celebrated 2 years of exploration and entered heart of people and in the dream of children.
Now one of Spirit’s wheels stopped from moving but this not important at all.
These 2 rovers after many years entered the people daily conversation and their life.
Today not only Sufi Collins ,a little girl that rovers named from her lecture, but also many children in around the world look to These rovers not as two robots but a source of dreams.
This mission support future of exploration of mars with make interest in hearth of next generation.
These 2 rovers now became a part of space history and their name recorded as legendary twines of space age.
Now Golden age of exploration of Mars begins .
4 Orbiter (Mars Odyssey , MGS, Mars Express of ESA and MRO) and 2 rovers (Spirit and opportunity) discovering Mars and in next 4 years 2 other Rovers join them.
For the first time in human history we are looking at a planet with a such great scientific army.
Maybe one they we can stand on the surface of Mars and that day maybe nobody remember MERs but when that time we look back, we cant forget role of this mission to understand Mars and more than it interested people to join space explorations.