For Your Astronomers: 9 Years on Mars [Opportunity Rover]

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Link: 9 Years on Mars - In Focus - The Atlantic

 

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity just celebrated its ninth anniversary on Mars - a mission that was originally meant to last just 90 days. Although recently eclipsed in the news by its bigger brother Curiosity, Opportunity is still going strong and making valuable scientific discoveries. Launched into space in 2003, Opportunity bounced to a hole-in-one landing in a small crater on Mars' Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004. It has since spent 3,212 Martian days, or sols, on the surface, slowly moving from target to target, exploring craters, meteorites, unusual rock formations, and finding evidence of past water activity. Over the past 108 months, Opportunity has driven a total of 35.48 kilometers (22.05 miles) across Mars -- not bad for a mission designed to last only three months. [30 photos]

 

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/mars020813/m07_PIA05152.jpg

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Link: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA20329

 

This image from the navigation camera on the mast of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows streaks of dust or sand on the vehicle's rear solar panel after a series of drives during which the rover was pointed steeply uphill.

 

The image was taken on March 21, 2016, during the 4,322nd Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. The rover's location was on the north-facing slope of "Knudsen Ridge," which forms part of the southern edge of "Marathon Valley." During a forward, uphill drive on March 10 (Sol 4311), Opportunity's tilt reached 32 degrees, the steepest ever for any rover on Mars. While the rover was so steeply tilted, accumulated dust on its deck was affected by vibrations from wheels slipping against the ground. Tilt in the same direction continued with two downhill drives in reverse between that ascent and when this images was taken...

 

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/images/largesize/PIA20329_hires.jpg

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Originally expected to last around 90 days Opportunity arrived on Mars 25^th January 2004.

 

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Link: Nasa calls time on silent Opportunity Mars rover [bBC News]

 

The US space agency (Nasa) has called time on its Opportunity Mars rover.

 

The six-wheeled robot last contacted Earth in June last year, just before it was enveloped in the darkness of a global dust storm.

 

Engineers hoped Oppy would power back up when the skies cleared and sunlight hit its solar panels again - but there has not been a peep out of the rover.

 

The routine prompt commands that have been sent to Opportunity will now end. The mission has been declared over.

 

"We tried valiantly over these last eight months to recover the rover, to get some signal from it," explained project manager John Callas.

 

"We've listened every single day with sensitive receivers, and we sent over 1,000 recovery commands. We heard nothing and the time has come to say goodbye."...