page_title: Mars Exploration Rover
section_title: Moving the payload onto Mars
hierarchical_section_title: Mars Exploration Rover / Spacecraft design / Lander / Moving the payload onto Mars
context_page_description: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rovers to explore the Martian surface and geology; both landed on Mars at separate locations in January 2004. Both rovers far outlived their planned missions of 90 Martian solar days: MER-A Spirit was active until March 22, 2010, while MER-B Opportunity was active until June 10, 2018 and holds the record for the longest distance driven by any off-Earth wheeled vehicle.
context_section_description: The moving of the rover off the lander is called the egress phase of the mission. The rover must avoid having its wheels caught in the airbag material or falling off a sharp incline. To help this, a retraction system on the petals slowly drags the airbags toward the lander before the petals open. Small ramps on the petals fan out to fill spaces between the petals. They cover uneven terrain, rock obstacles, and airbag material, and form a circular area from which the rover can drive off in more directions. They also lower the step that the rover must climb down. They are nicknamed "batwings", and are made of Vectran cloth.
  About three hours were allotted to retract the airbags and deploy the lander petals.
caption: Spirit's lander on Mars
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