Good news for Nasa, which could probably use some right now. On December 15 its Odyssey Orbiter will become the single longest serving Mars surface spacecraft in history. (Unless there’s some sort of Protean ship on there!) Once December 15 hits Odyssey will have served its 3,340th day up there, surpassing the previous record holder, the Mars Global Surveyor.
The Surveyor was on Mars from September 11, 1997 until November 2, 2006. Odyssey has been up there since October 24, 2001.
Odyssey’s main mission ended in 2004, but Nasa kept it up there to collect additional data. A sort, “It’s up there, why not squeeze a bit more out of it?”
Nasa says that its prolonged stay has allowed it capture the highest resolution photos of Mars ever.
More pics here if that’s your thing (and it should be).