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Mars rover update: Spirit and Opportunity were beset by a huge sandstorm in August, leading to fears that they would run out of solar power a mere three and a half years into their 90-day mission. The sand cleared in time, however, and both robots continue with their survey.
Speaking of elderly ships, the Pioneer mission was saved once again through the timely rescue of a DEC Alpha, the only computer able to run the custom software needed to condition the data before it can be archived for future use.
And then, when no one was paying attention, NASA successfully launched Dawn, due to visit the asteroid Vesta from August 2011 to May 2012 and the newly elevated dwarf planet Ceres from February to August 2015.
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