QUESTION:
What is the expected operational life of the rover? Will it run out of
power?

ANSWER from Howard J Eisen on January 1, 1997:
The Rover should operate in the Martian environment for several weeks, 
maybe months.  As the Rover lands in late summer, there is less 
sunlight available each day.  Less light means less electrical power 
from the solar panel and also less heat from the sunlight.  Those two 
things will combine to eventually cause a failure in the Rover as some 
electronic component gets too cold.  
     
The Rover's mission has been designed so that it accomplishes all 
primary objectives within the first seven days.  These tasks include 
mobility, imaging (of the lander and of Martian terrain), science 
(APXS of rocks and soil) and technology experiments.

ANSWER from Guy Beutelschies on July 15, 1997:
Seven days was the estimate of how long it would take to complete the
Rover's primary mission objectives (which actually we did in six days).
There is no reason to believe at this point that the Rover will not last
several weeks, perhaps several months.

We don't know what will eventually end the vehicle's mission, but certainly
the high and low temperatures on Mars could take it's toll on motors and
other external components.

Matt

ANSWER from Cheik Diarra on November 18, 1996:
The rover is powered by a top mounted solar panel. It will provide the
rover with variable power depending on the seasons on Mars and also on how
much dust covers it with time.

The rover is scheduled to carry out its mission in 7 sols (7 days on Mars).
with 1 sol = 24 hours 37minutes. After the primary mission, we will do an
extended mission until either the electronics in the rover fail due to the
temperature swings, or the solar panel fails us.