Mars rover Opportunity will also see the light of day this week. NASA says the mobile exploration device is headed to an area of the planet called Greeley Haven—a place where the dust-covered solar panels that give it power can soak up the best rays during the Martian winter.
Greeley Haven gets its name from Ronald Greeley, one of the planetary geologists on the Mars rover team. Opportunity and its fellow rover Spirit both completed their primary missions in 2004 but Opportunity is carrying on its exploration of the red planet.
As Opportunity “winters” in Greeley Haven, it will be gathering data about wobbles in Mars’ rotation, in hopes of helping better understand more about the planet’s core.
Earth dwellers hope to make some tech-y discoveries of their own at 2012’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. CES has long been the main venue for tech companies to show off new gadgets and innovations from TVs to tablets.
This year’s event will likely draw 140,000 people and feature super lightweight laptops from companies like Acer, along with extra powerful mobile devices and the latest in green tech. One hot area—according to the Washington Post—will be convergence, as television companies scramble to make their products Web-connected.
But as The New York Times notes, the annual event is in danger of becoming obsolete, as larger companies like Apple are opting more often to save their flashy unveilings for brand-specific events.
CORRECTION: NASA’s Spirit Rover has not been active since 2010. An earlier version of this blog, and the video accompanying it, suggested the rover was still active.
