NASA's six-wheeled rover landed on the red planet in January 2004 for what was billed as a 90-day mission. The plucky robot was still going until a dust storm on Mars last summer killed it.
Early in 2019, China hopes to land a rover — the first soft landing on the moon's far side. The mission is exploratory, and will lay groundwork for a trip by Chinese astronauts to the lunar surface.
With the sun entirely blocked out by dust, the solar-powered rover has presumably fallen asleep to wait out the storm. NASA scientists say they are "very concerned," but that they hope for the best.
In January 2004, Steven Squyres thrust both his arms in the air as he made history. He was in charge of the Mars Exploration Rover Project, and two of his rovers had landed successfully on the Red Planet.
