经过半年多的旅行,美国“勇气”号火星车于太平洋时间2004年1月3日20时35分,在火星成功首陆。1月24日,“勇气”号的孪生兄弟“机遇”号火星车也完美地降落在火星的另一面——火星赤道附近“子午线平原”的一个20米见方的小坑洞里。科学家们原打算让“机遇”号降落的地方离某个坑洞近一点,以便探测坑洞的断层,没想到竟然打出一记3亿英里远的“一杆入洞”。 After more than six months of travel, the U.S. “courageous” rover made its first landing on Mars at 20:35 on Pacific time on January 3, 2004. On January 24, the courageous twin Mars rover also landed perfectly on a small 20-meter-square pothole on the other side of Mars, the Meridian Plains near Mars Equator. Scientists had intended to make the “opportunity” landed somewhere near a hole in order to detect the potholes, did not expect to actually hit a record 300 million miles of “a hole.”