Java runs remote-controlled Mars rover Reuters January 16, 2004, 6:20 AM PT The same piece of software that lets people around the world play video games on their cell phones is now letting scientists drive the ultimate remote-controlled car across the surface of Mars. Java, the software developed by Sun Microsystems in the mid-1990s as a universal operating system for Internet applications, gave NASA a low-cost and easy-to-use option for running Spirit, the robotic rover that rolled onto the planet's surface on Thursday in search of signs of water and life. For the next three months, NASA scientists and engineers...