Opportunity (2003-2019), a Mars rover nicknamed Oppy, was a machine the size of a golf cart that travelled 28 miles (45 km) across Meridiani Planum on Mars, from 2004 to 2018.
Yesterday, on February 13th 2019, NASA declared it dead.
Mars rovers: years of operation:
1997: Sojourner, in Ares Vallis
2004-09: Spirit, in Gusev crater
2004-18: Opportunity, in Meridiani Planum
2012- : Curiosity, in Aeolis Palus
Only Curiosity is still going.
In 2021 three new rovers are due to arrive, from the US, Europe, and China. So far only the US has been able to successfully land rovers on Mars. Russia has tried but failed (Mars 2 and Mars 3).
Spirit is Opportunity’s identical twin sister. It landed on the other side of Mars three weeks before Opportunity. In 2009 its wheels got stuck in the sand and could no longer move. It travelled only 4.8 miles (7.73 km).
Lift-off: On July 7th 2003, Opportunity left Earth from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a Delta II rocket. It took six months to reach Mars.
Landing: On January 25th 2004, it landed on Mars at 1.9462°S, 354.4734°E, near the equator in Meridiani Planum. It had a piece of the Twin Towers that fell on 9/11.
Top land speed: 0.1 mph or 180 metres an hour. Slower than a turtle.
Remote control: Like all Mars rovers so far, Opportunity was remote controlled from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, California. NASA talked to it in PLEXIL. Mars is so far away that it can take up to 22 minutes for a message to get to Mars or come back. So the rover’s slow speed was a good thing.

Mars in 2018. Opportunity is at the centre of the map, Spirit at the right edge. Sojourner was part of the Pathfinder mission, north-west of Opportunity.

A close-up map of Opportunity’s path (in yellow) from 2004 to 2018. A blue outline of Washington, DC is shown for comparison.
Meridiani Planum was chosen because it was flat, had few rocks, some interesting craters, and, as NASA put it, seemed to have once been “the shoreline of a salty sea.”
Discoveries: Opportunity and Spirit were sent to find out if there was once water or life on Mars. Opportunity did find just the sort rocks you would expect to see at the bottom of a dried up lake or sea, like hematite and gypsum. But it found no signs of any past life.
In 2005 it got stuck in the sand, like Spirit would later, but NASA was able to work it free.
From 2006 to 2008 it explored Victoria crater, discovering that water once flowed there billions of years ago. In 2007 Opportunity survived a dust storm.
In 2011 it reached Endeavour crater, travelling along its edge. It found a vein of gypsum, what chalk and alabaster are made of.
On June 10th 2018, during a huge dust storm, Opportunity lost contact with Earth. NASA tried calling it over 800 times.
On February 12th 2019, with the destructive Martian winter coming, NASA tried to wake it one last time, sending the Billie Holiday song “I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944).
There was no answer.
It died at the edge of Endeavour crater in what NASA christened Perseverance Valley.
Jim Bridenstine, the head of NASA:
“It is because of trailblazing missions such as Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave astronauts walk on the surface of Mars.”

August 4th 2010: Opportunity, crossing the sands of Mars on its way to Endeavour crater, looks back towards Victoria crater.
– Abagond, 2019.
See also:
- Mars
- ‘Oumuamua
- Pluto
- New Horizons – flew by Pluto in 2015
- Eris
- Proxima b
- 9/11
- Billie Holiday
622
We need more educational articles like this! Thank you.
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Funny, I am visualizing a rover traveling across the Northern Virginia suburbs, from where the beltway meets the Potomac River NW of DC, south through McLean, passing through Falls Church, shifting slightly west to Rt. 50 and the Beltway and then SE through Alexandria, then crossing the beltway again to Rt. 1 South of Alexandria (on the way, but not quite yet to Mt. Vernon).
What information would they be sending back to Mars? How much of the Earth could you tell from such a trip?
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If Abagond thinks Elon Musk is interesting then do a post.
Besides Tesla he has a company that is building rockets for space travel. He thinks Mars should be a bug out place for when humanity destroys itself.
He thinks the greatest threat to humanity is artificial intelligence. (AI)
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“[Elon Musk] thinks the greatest threat to humanity is artificial intelligence. (AI)”
Funny, I think the greatest threat to humanity is humanity.
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I’d agree with that Solitaire.
Some worry that AI will become advanced enough to evolve on it’s own and become independent within the cloud.
Or its given a directive like “help solve global hunger” and then AI proceeds to wipe out half the worlds population.
Or its incorporated into a trading bot and directed to short Delts Airlines which triggers Delta planes to fall out of the sky.
Maybe some people have watched the Terminator too much.
https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-backed-ai-company-claims-it-made-a-text-gener-1832650914/amp
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@ MJB
I suppose if someone wanted to get philosophical about it, artificial intelligence would be created by humans, so it still boils down to humanity causing the demise of humanity. 😉
I’m far more concerned about global climate change than artificial intelligence, which I think is a much longer way off.
Also, people like Elon Musk who want a bug-out plan for humanity aren’t thinking or caring about all other life on Earth. That kind of thinking prioritizes and privileges homo sapiens. I don’t want to see the demise of life on Earth whether I’m safe on Mars or not.
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To clarify Solitaire I am agreeing with your original statement. lol
Musk interest in renewable energy is because he thinks global warming is serious problem and if not solved will lead to the Earth dying thus Mars the back up planet.
He also believes AI is more “dangerous then nuclear weapons” and has called for AI development to be regulated. It is not at present.
Tesla employs about 45,000 workers and is currently facing lawsuits for racial discrimination.
Ford just paid out 10 million in settlements and there are pending suits with Chrysler, Daimler and Honda.
Racism is alive and well in the few factories left in the U.S.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/05/elon-musk-we-need-a-revolt-against-the-fossil-fuel-industry
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@ MJB
“To clarify Solitaire I am agreeing with your original statement. lol”
I knew you were…. I was just adding on more thoughts! 😀
I can see where Elon Musk is coming from, but I’m of the opinion that if we destroy the Earth through global warming, then we ought to go down with it. If I had his money, I would put it into trying to solve climate change and not waste anything on an escape hatch to Mars for the elite few.
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Yes I wouldn’t want to be on a spaceship headed for Mars with a bunch of elites. Lmao
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As long as Al’s sexy and horny, I don’t care!
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Humanity is a cancer on the face of the earth and should not be allowed to metastasize to the rest of the universe.
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@ Otto Carnage
“Humanity is a cancer on the face of the earth and should not be allowed to metastasize to the rest of the universe.”
Aw, come on! Have some faith in your own species. Sure, we’ve made plenty of bad decisions, but we’ve also accomplished some pretty amazing feats. Together, we can solve almost any problem.
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