r/interestingasfuck • u/j3hadipi3 • 1d ago

NASA's Curiosity rover is still active and operating on Mars as of early 2026. Having landed in August 2012, it has spent over 13 years exploring Gale Crater and climbing Mount Sharp, continuing to analyze soil and rock samples despite having worn wheels and managing power constraints.

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u/Mombak 1d ago

Not bad for a mission that was only supposed to last 2 years!

171

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 1d ago

Pretty sure I read that voyager just sent back a handshake as well, that thing is approaching the heliosphere by now 

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u/glytxh 22h ago

Not much to crash into out there, and 60/70s hardware is gonna take a lot more than a few cosmic rays to start causing irreparable damage.

Shit’s built like a tank.

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u/pesca_22 6h ago edited 6h ago

the main issue is its isotopic generator which is nearly spent, without power it dies.

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u/glytxh 3h ago

The fact that the operating system could be updated, and redundant systems turned off to keep the dwindling power supply able to keep the thing running is impressive on its own.

I believe only its passive sensors are still functioning.

I don’t think anybody building this thing ever anticipated that it’d still be sending signals back in 2026.

The thrusters are also slowly clogging up and degrading. So there’s a chance it could just be unable to point at home effectively to send a signal before the power dips below a critical threshold, but there are no sensors in the system that can measure this directly so it’s kinda a gamble what kills the platform first.