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
Human mission to Mars considerations for using aerocapture on crewed missions is a maximum G-limit to experience, for which it was noted 5-g's (5 times Earth gravity) was a common limit to be planned for. There may be several landers, for example, separate ones for the crew, a habitat, rover, supplies, ascent vehicle, etc. Landed spacecraft on the surface of Mars: One of the big challenges to landing on Mars was overcome by Mariner 4, when it showed the properties of the atmosphere. Another was a basic survey of the planet, to know what place might be suitable to land. This has been overcome