Mars Exploration Rover 25, 2011, bringing the elapsed mission time to 6 years 2 months 19 days, or over 25 times the original planned mission duration. In recognition of the vast amount of scientific information amassed by both rovers, two asteroids have been named in their honor: 37452 Spirit and 39382 Opportunity. The mission is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designed, built, and is operating the rovers. On January 24, 2014, NASA reported that current studies by the remaining rover "Opportunity" as well as by the newer Mars Science Laboratory rover "Curiosity" will now be searching for evidence of
Scientific information from the Mars Exploration Rover mission made during a press conference, where mission scientists listed a number of observations that strongly support this view: Detailed analysis of environmental, chemical, and mineralogical data taken from the Opportunity rover led to the elimination of the competing hypotheses, and the confirmation of the conclusion that the spherules were formed in place as post-depositional sedimentary concretions from an aqueous source On March 23, 2004, NASA announced that they believe that "Opportunity" had not landed in a location merely "drenched in water", but on what was once a coastal area. "We think "Opportunity" is parked on what was once the shoreline