Opportunity Rover Celebrates 5,000th Martian Dawn , 14 Years of Exploration

Two worlds one Sun , image captured by Opportunity on Feb. 15, 2018

The milestone happened yesterday as Opportunity continued it's relentless quest for science , no cake , no party hats just doing what she has done for the past 14 years , not bad for a mission that was only scheduled for a 90 days as NASA didn't expect her nor her sister , Spirit , to last out their first Martian winter.
In the 14 years since landing on Mars Opportunity has traveled 28 miles , taken over 225,000 photos , drilled countless Martian rocks and suffered with memory and technical problems but still she carries on largely forgotten but endlessly searching.

From the rover's perspective on the inside slope of the western rim of Endeavour Crater, the milestone sunrise will appear over the basin's eastern rim, about 14 miles (22 kilometers) away. Opportunity has driven over 28 miles (45 kilometers) from its landing site to its current location about one-third of the way down "Perseverance Valley," a shallow channel incised from the rim's crest of the crater's floor. The rover has returned about 225,000 images, all promptly made public online.

"We've reached lots of milestones, and this is one more," Callas said, "but more important than the numbers are the exploration and the scientific discoveries."

The mission made headlines during its first months with the evidence about groundwater and surface water environments on ancient Mars. Opportunity trekked to increasingly larger craters to look deeper into Mars and father back into Martian history, reaching Endeavour Crater in 2011. Researchers are now using the rover to investigate the processes that shaped Perseverance Valley
mars.nasa.gov...

I still remember how excited I was when Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars and how eagerly I waited for the images they returned , it's good to know that one of the old girls is still trundling on after all this time.

Congratulations NASA and Happy Anniversary to the little rover that could, did , and continues to do.

In the 14 years since landing on Mars Opportunity has traveled 28 miles , taken over 225,000 photos , drilled countless Martian rocks and suffered with memory and technical problems but still she carries on largely forgotten but endlessly searching.

Endlessly mapping mineral deposits, looking for treasure. On Mars its guaranteed to be laying about on the surface.
Nobody has collected any of it yet. Can we see the spectra of all those drilled rocks?

What about the gold, wheres the gold?

quora.com

a reply to: gortex

It's really amazing I was just watching a documentary and Opportunity really had luck so far. Excited to see what adventures lay ahead of her.

R.I.P. Spirit

spirit still works as well But its stuck in the sand in a creator and louses power off and on .
Of coarse not much they can do with it lol
as for Opportunity the energizer bunny was a close friend and tought her every thing he knows now spirit just keeps going and going and going and ( well you get the idea .

NASA does noting half way when they mess up they do it in big ways and when then get it right they really get it right .
Heck voyager was launched sept 5 1977 and is still working they just recently got even MORE photos it took .
and looks like they expect it to last another ten to 20 years .

originally posted by: intrptr
Can we see the spectra of all those drilled rocks?

I don't know if it shows all, but here you have access to the photos and other data gathered by Opportunity.

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: gortex

It's really amazing I was just watching a documentary and Opportunity really had luck so far. Excited to see what adventures lay ahead of her.

R.I.P. Spirit

It is truly amazing that she is still going after all this time. Only traveling twenty eight miles doesn't seem alot though, considering how long she's been up there. Communications to and from the planet must be frustrating.

She has alot of adventures ahead of her. Maybe one day when man finally lands on there, she can enjoy her well earned retirement.

a reply to: gortex

It's all backwards... Your thread should be flagged to the moon and back, and replies a plenty... yet it seems trump tweets get 900 flags and pages of boring back and forth bollocks.

That pic of the sun from there, is brilliant. And the little rover that could, is a star in and of itself. This is so more thread worthy. I had no idea it had been so long there, either. She has existed on Mars longer than some young adults have been using the internet. What a task, an achievement.

Awesome !! Thank you for a decent thread mate !

originally posted by: ArMaP

originally posted by: intrptr
Can we see the spectra of all those drilled rocks?

I don't know if it shows all, but here you have access to the photos and other data gathered by Opportunity.

Thanks ArMaP.

Lots of photos on the internet, thousands of rock drilling photos, but I want spectra data charts.

Each rock drilling was followed by a sample analysis with on board instruments.

Haven't seen much of that in the public realm.

a reply to: gortex
Thanks for posting this!


A young relative of mine was talking about this just last night. He was involved in the design of some of the on-board software when he was in high school. (Hard to believe it was that long ago...seems like yesterday.) It was a really big deal then, special scholarships and all...he's still pretty proud.

a reply to: badw0lf

Thanks badw0lf, it is disappointing but I guess political argument is what most members want from ATS these days, at least there are still a few members here who care about the bigger picture.