Curiosity (rover) composition of the artifact in minutes. Engineers created a smaller, portable version named the "X-Duetto". Fitting into a few briefcase-sized boxes, it can examine objects on site, while preserving their physical integrity. It is now being used by Getty scientists to analyze a large collection of museum antiques and the Roman ruins of Herculaneum, Italy. Prior to the landing, NASA and Microsoft released "Mars Rover Landing", a free downloadable game on Xbox Live that uses Kinect to capture body motions, which allows users to simulate the landing sequence. NASA gave the general public the opportunity from 2009 until 2011 to
Mars Exploration Rover one Martian year anniversary (669 sols or 687 Earth days) on November 20, 2005. "Opportunity" celebrated its anniversary on December 12, 2005. At the beginning of the mission, it was expected that the rovers would not survive much longer than 90 Martian days. The Columbia Hills were "just a dream", according to rover driver Chris Leger. "Spirit" explored the semicircular rock formation known as Home Plate. It is a layered rock outcrop that puzzles and excites scientists. It is thought that its rocks are explosive volcanic deposits, though other possibilities exist, including impact deposits or sediment borne by wind or