The mysterious Red Planet is a lot less mysterious than it was a year ago.
Spirit and Opportunity — the two robotic rovers — are now entering their second year of exploration on Mars. Their survival is not just considered a success — it’s seen as a major scientific miracle. The rovers survived their landing on Mars and they’ve long outlived their expiration dates. They were only supposed to function for 90 days in the harsh Martian climate. Yet, more than a year later they are continuing to crawl, climb and sift the surface of Mars sending news back to Earth.
Their original mission was to find signs of life and to help scientists search out answers to that perennial question — are we alone? Mission to Mars — Spirit and Opportunity still phoning home.
Guests:
David Grinspoon, planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado and author of “Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life.”