NASA’s Opportunity Rover has completed a distance of 26.2 miles from January 2004 to April 2015 and continues to be on the journey on Mars. It took 11 years for the Opportunity to cover this distance, which can be compared to a marathon distance. NASA has released an 8-minute video, which covers this 11 years journey.

The video also has a list of bookmarks that makes it easy for viewers to find out things on the map. As said above, the journey is not over yet and the rover continues to move on Mars to collect new information.

Scientists said the rover will explore a Martian area around the size of a normal football field. The scientists have found clay minerals, which could provide vital information about the planet’s environmental conditions in the past.

The rover gets its much needed energy to explore Mars from solar panels present on its back. During these years, the Opportunity rover has faced many problems, including a damaged wheel and memory issues.

Alternatives are now being used for certain things like random-access memory is being used to keep data while power is on. Now, the team managing the rover has found that they can operate in persistent RAM mode.

After facing so many problems, the rover continues to operate. Scientists said its longevity has surprised them. Both Opportunity and its twin rover Spirit were expected to run for just 90 days, but they both continued to extend their missions. Spirit worked for 6 years before stopping and Opportunity continues till today.