This month, NASA is celebrating 10 years of amazing discoveries by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. The twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on Mars in January of 2004 to begin a 90 day mission. A decade later, Opportunity is still collecting valuable scientific data on the surface of Mars.

Opportunity touched down on Mars’ Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004 (UTC). To celebrate the anniversary, several activities are taking place throughout the month of January. To begin the events, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC collaborated with NASA to present a two-panel discussion focused on the achievements of MER. Scientists and engineers provided powerful and personal insights into the mission.

Among the panelists was Dr. Mary Voytek, director of Astrobiology at NASA. Voytek spoke about the future of scientific research on Mars, and how astrobiology research in extreme environments on Earth is helping to shape NASA’s goals for the red planet.

Video of the event is available on NASA’s YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMl7Q0KHcQ4.

Many other public events are scheduled throughout the month. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is having a public celebration starting at 7pm (PST) on January 16th in the Beckman Auditorium at Caltech. The event includes John Callas (MER Project Manager), Charles Elachi (JPL Director), Steve Squyres (MER Principle Investigator ), and Bill Nye (Planetary Society). It will be streamed live at: http://ustream.tv/NASAJPL.

The following day, on January 17th, John Callas will move to the The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College to give a public lecture at 7pm. The stream will also be available at: http://ustream.tv/NASAJPL.

JPL has a media briefing scheduled for 11 am (PST) on the 23rd of January. Participants include John Callas, Steve Squyres and Ray Arvidson (MER deputy Principle Investigator). Live coverage will be provided by NASA Television.

To view anniversary outreach products from NASA’s Mars program, visit http://mars.nasa.gov/mer10/.

Finally, a special exhibit has opened at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. “Spirit & Opportunity: 10 Years Roving Across Mars” will be on display through September of 2014. More information is available at: http://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/mer/.