As you may have recently heard, NASA‘s Opportunity Mars Rover‘s life has officially come to an end. Opportunity, or Oppy, was a rover sent to the planet Mars in the Summer of 2003 with its twin, named Spirit. Both were designed to last 90 days and to perform surface missions. Here is Oppy’s record-breaking story and some of his discoveries.
Water Hunt
One of the main mission of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission of its two mobile robots MER-A Spirit and his twin MER-B Opportunity, was to find water on the surface of Mars. After landing a couple weeks apart, they went down to what was suspected to be dried up river canals to get a closer look. The recordings that Opportunity took and sent back to Earth were able to confirm the theory that Mars once had liquid water on its surface. The pictures captured by the rover showed what once was kilometer-long bodies of water. Oppy also analyzed the pH of this ancient water, proving that it was neutral.
Longevity
While Spirit had some complications and died five years into the mission, Opportunity had a much longer lifespan. Even though they were both designed to last a short 90 days, Oppy ended up living for a staggering 15 years. It stayed alive using solar energy and often hibernated to conserve its power. Its life was cut to an end during the major 2018 dust storms on Mars, which sent Oppy into permanent hibernation. Its last communication with Earth was the rather sad message:
“My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” This last message was sent on June 10th of 2018.
Mourning
Opportunity’s passing has been a trending topic online since its announcement on February 13, 2019. Many people have been sharing their condolences on the social media Twitter. Here are some of my favorites.
@ahoyjamie, said: “When Opportunity rover said, ‘My battery is low and it’s getting dark’, I felt that.”
So what now?
Although Oppy’s passing is a sad happening there is always a bright side. As Opportunity project manager John Callas said in an interview, “When we say, ‘our world,’ we’re no longer just talking about the Earth. We have to include parts of Mars as well.” Opportunity’s discoveries are undeniably incredible and definitely a huge step closer towards Mars. It is now up to Curiosity, another rover currently on Mars to take the baton and continue exploring the Red Planet.
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