Dave's other cars keep going

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Budda648

Dave, do you guys at NASA have any idea as to how long the rover will keep going since it was only supposed to go for 90 days to begin with? I admit, I don't follow much about NASA, just what I hear on the news.

At this point, we don't even try to guess any more. The device has lasted way beyond the original warranty period. Realistically, given the mechanical wear rates that we have seen it could continue on for a very, very long time. Conversely, a critical part could fail tomorrow that would mean the end of the mission. The rover is so far beyond the original expected design that we just don't have any real data upon which to base any lifetime estimates. So we are just taking it one day at a time.

-dave