(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
It keeps going and going.
NASA's Opportunity rover has logged a total of more than 30 kilometers (18.64 miles) of travel on Mars since 2004, thanks to a recent drive of 482 feet (146.8 meters) that put it past the 30 km milestone.
In a report, NASA noted the distance is "50 times the distance originally planned for the mission and more than 12 times the distance racehorses will run next week at the Belmont Stakes."
The twin rover Spirit has been out of communication with Earth since March 2010 after driving 4.8 miles, and NASA finally gave up on trying to communicate with it just last month. But Opportunity is still rolling along and taking photos of nearby craters, such as a 30-foot hole informally dubbed "Skylab" after the first U.S. space station.
Opportunity has been investigating exposed rock outcroppings on a long journey to Endeavour, an enormous impact crater measuring 14 miles across that's now only about 2 miles away.
The rover's right front wheel motor has been drawing more power than the other wheels, and intermittent cosmic rays have delayed Opportunity's progress, but its extended performance after its initial three-month mission has been remarkable.
Thanks to the painstaking care of NASA managers, it has survived a sand trap, dust storms, and numerous other hazards. We hope Opportunity's first landfall at Endeavour comes soon.
Artist's conception of a Mars Exploration Rover on the Martian surface. 
The   has passed the 30-kilometer (18.64-mile) milestone in its travels over the Martian surface. ''Opportunity'' has been on Mars since 2004.

It was during a small recent drive of 146.8 meters (482 feet) that the rover passed the distance milestone. According to NASA, the distance traveled by ''Opportunity'' is 50 times that originally planned for the rover.

''Opportunity'' has passed several craters since landing on Mars in 2004, including one of the youngest craters yet investigated by the rover, named "Skylab" after the . The rover's ultimate destination is a large crater approximately  in diameter; ''Opportunity'' is now within about  of this crater.

''Opportunity'''s sister rover, , traveled about  across the Martian surface before it lost communication with Earth in March 2010; last month, NASA ceased attempts to regain contact with the rover.

Both the ''Opportunity'' and ''Spirit'' rovers have greatly surpassed their intended operational lifespan—which ended in April 2004—and have helped researchers make discoveries about the history of Mars, as well as the possibility that microbial life could have once been supported on the fourth planet from the sun.


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fr:Mars : le rover américain Opportunity franchit une nouvelle étape