Engineers and mission managers for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover
mission cheered when images from the Martian surface confirmed
Opportunity had successfully escaped from a sand trap.
After almost five weeks of stress, testing, speculation and
experimentation, the Mars rover Opportunity has finally worked its
way out of the dune it has been stuck in. JPL Engineers cheered
when images showed that the rover's wheels were free.
NASA Announced Thursday that plans to send a new lander to Mars
have been approved. The Phoenix lander is a stationary craft with a
long arm designed to look for water, ice and possible indicators of
life. The Phoenix mission should launch in August 2007, sending the
scout to the icy ground of the far northern martian plains.
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