CAPE CANAVERAL - The Phoenix Mars lander's wet chemistry laboratory is preparing to process the deepest sample yet acquired at its north polar landing site, while several thousand miles east near the equator the rover Opportunity is completing two years of exploration at Victoria crater.

On the opposite side of Mars from Opportunity and farther south, the rover Spirit is hunkered down at a spot specifically angled for maximum sun to draw power during the remaining weeks of its third winter on Mars. Spirit is doing science in place including a new high-resolution stereo panorama of its surroundings.

In the coming months, Spirit command teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., plan to drive Spirit south of its Home Plate location to an area where the rover last year found some bright, silica-rich soil. This could be possible evidence of effects of hot water.

Meanwhile, Opportunity is completing one year of operations about a third of the way into the 500-ft. deep Victoria crater that is a half-mile wide. The rover found layers of wind deposited rock strata with signs of alteration by ancient Mars ground water.

The rover has been exploring Victoria since mid-2006. It spent months driving around the rim and since August 2007 has been within the crater.

Opportunity will now head out again across the hematite planes of Meridiani to examine differences in cobble-like rocks blown out of Victoria and other craters much farther away.

Spirit and Opportunity science teams based at facilities around the world are coordinated daily by Principal Investigator Steve Squyres at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

A Lockheed Martin control center at Littleton, Colo., plays a key role around the clock for the rover and Phoenix spacecraft by coordinating Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey relay operations. It's also involved with commands from JPL to the rovers and the University of Arizona to Phoenix.

Phoenix has just completed its original 90-Martian-day mission and is beginning its one-month extended mission. There's less and less each sunlight day at the landing site as winter returns to the Martian arctic.

"As we near what we originally expected to be the full length of the mission, we are all thrilled with how well the mission is going," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein at JPL.