After 15 years on Mars, it’s the end of the road for Opportunity

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nasa-mars-opportunity-rover-dead?tgt=nr

After 15 years on Mars, NASA's longest roving rover, Opportunity, has been declared dead because of a dust storm.  In 2004, NASA launched twin rovers, Opportunity and Spirit.  Spirit's journey ended in 2010 with a stuck wheel, but Opportunity has continued to roam Mars for 15 years.  The amazing part of the story, was that Opportunity was only expected to last on Mars for a 90 martian days.  Opportunity exceeded this mission greatly and continued to report back to NASA about Mars for 5,111 martian days until June 10, 2018.     

I find it amazing that the rover survived that long in Mars' harsh environment.  We've learned so much from the pictures and information that Opportunity has sent back to Earth over the years.  I just wonder what the next phase of exploration on Mars will bring. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2019 at 3:25 PM

    I agree that we gained so much knowledge from the rover. I feel like discovering the longer life span of the rover will help us to prepare for more drastic measures in the future regarding traveling there based on information that will be obtained from more time for rovers being spent there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2019 at 9:31 AM

    I think that this article is interesting because of the information the rover was able to provide Earth for the past fifteen years. In the future, it would be interesting if a new rover could detect life on Mars.

    ReplyDelete

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