The operations team is just as smart. They're using tricks like driving it up north-facing slopes in winter to keep the solar panels illuminated by the lower sun, allowing them to continue high-power work (grinding etc.) year-round.
All in all, a great testament to human ingenuity.
Previous accomplishments of "flying" spacecraft close to a planet to take fly-by pictures pales in comparison...though it richly deserves recognition...
State of the art...landing and maintaining control of a "man-made" vehicle on a planet in our solar system, well beyond it's anticipated mechanical limits...
Bravo!...
Curiosity has a harder deadline on it's life than Opportunity though, the RTG will eventually not produce enough power to keep the rover warm and moving and will degrade the same no matter how the rover is used.
I've never seen that visualization. That's so much data but still really easy to figure it out and track, thanks!