_end of the road. having travelled nearly ten kilometres across the barren surface, Opportunity is now circling this crater. if mission control decides to send it in, the tiny rover may spend its final days in this area, unable to climb out again. one of NASA’s most successful missions ever, the twin rovers have paved the way for future explorers, both robotic and, just maybe, human

_navigating around such features has to be carefully planned. this 3D map was created to help mission planners work out a safe route up the Columbia Hills ? seven peaks named after the astronauts who died in the space shuttle Columbia disaster

_the rovers face high winds, planet-wide dust storms, temperatures as low as -140?C and tricky terrain, like this formation near Endurance Crater which scientists believe may show evidence of erosion caused by waterthe rovers face high winds, planet-wide dust storms and tricky terrain, like this formation near Endurance Crater which scientists believe may show evidence of erosion by water

_after 672 Martian days ? or ‘sols’ ? on the move, Spirit surveys its dusty, desolate surroundings

_after seven months in space, the two capsules hit the Martian atmosphere at 5.4 kilometres per second. heat shields and parachutes, like this one being tested in a wind tunnel, slowed the spacecraft down and set up two perfect landings. ‘Spirit’ touched down in Gustav crater while ‘Opportunity’ glided down in Meridiani Planum, a vast swindswept plain on the other side of the planet

_prior to launch, the rovers were loaded into carefully prepared landing capsules designed to survive the tricky descent to the Martian surface. of the eleven attempts to land on Mars, five have failed, including Britain’s ill-fated Beagle 2

_image: NASA / JPL-Caltech