posted 08-10-2011 11:31 AM               

This thread is intended for comments and questions regarding the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover and the updates published under the topic: NASA's Opportunity roves Mars (2010-Present).

Opportunity and its rover twin, Spirit, completed their three-month prime missions on Mars in April 2004. Both rovers continued for years of bonus, extended missions.

Spirit finished communicating with Earth in March 2010.

Both Spirit and Opportunity have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.

posted 07-07-2012 11:38 PM               

This full-circle scene combines 817 images taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. It shows the terrain that surrounded the rover while it was stationary for four months of work during its most recent Martian winter.

posted 06-16-2018 07:02 AM               

Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Sols 1 through 5104 front left hazcam view. Sound comes from the on-board accelerometer used in this case as a microphone, louder sound corresponds to rougher terrain.

posted 06-16-2018 10:09 AM               

Because of the results from Sojourner, we knew that dust would accumulate on the solar panels, but only at the extremely slow rate of ~0.29% per Martian day. Over a 90 day mission, that meant a total reduction in power of 23%. There were a number of options, then, for how to design Spirit and Opportunity...

Instead, we chose the most cost-effective (i.e., cheapest) solution: simply build bigger solar panels. If, over a 90 day mission, we expected up to 23% dimming, then by building solar panels with at least 23% more surface area, we'd ensure we had all the power we need.

posted 08-17-2018 04:01 PM            

NASA's Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover. Now that scientists think the global dust storm is "decaying" — meaning more dust is falling out of the atmosphere than is being raised back into it — skies might soon clear enough for the solar-powered rover to recharge and attempt to "phone home."

posted 02-13-2019 01:29 PM               

The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made their last attempt to revive Opportunity Tuesday, to no avail. The solar-powered rover's final communication was received June 10.

"I cannot think of a more appropriate place for Opportunity to endure on the surface of Mars than one called Perseverance Valley," said Michael Watkins, director of JPL. "The records, discoveries and sheer tenacity of this intrepid little rover is testament to the ingenuity, dedication, and perseverance of the people who built and guided her."