Starship Asterisk*

Shadow of a Martian Robot

Explanation: What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't human? Then you might be the Opportunity rover currently exploring Mars. Opportunity has been exploring the red planet since early 2004, finding evidence of ancient water, and sending breathtaking images across the inner Solar System. Pictured above in 2004, Opportunity looks opposite the Sun into Endurance Crater and sees its own shadow. Two wheels are visible on the lower left and right, while the floor and walls of the unusual crater are visible in the background. Opportunity is continuing on its long trek exploring unusual terrain in Meridiani Planum which continues to yield clues to the ancient history of Mars, our Solar System, and even humanity.

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Pity the poor Russians, who tried, and tried, to land something successfully on "The Red Planet" and always failed.

Very impressive picture. However, I'm afraid that the tread tracks in the lower foreground resemble human footprints so much that the weirdo conspiracy theorists will use this picture as evidence for something or other!

Isn't it nice to hear from old friends? Glad to still have that Opportunity Hope there's a lot of Spirit left in her!!

Opportunity saw its shadow. Was there another six weeks of Martian winter after that?

Yup..... Six more weeks of winter...

:---[===] *

With the Martian year being about 2 of ours, wouldn't it be 6 more months of winter?

3 months, maybe (~ 13 weeks).