I for one will cast my eyes upwards to Mars and give thanks time and again to our little Rover. Opportunity...you are not forgotten.
1
"NASA was looking to rebound from two embarrassing failures in 1999. A mix-up between English and metric units caused the Mars Climate Orbiter to be ripped apart in the atmosphere."
The English use metric. I believe you meant Imperial.
2
The great explorer Opportunity lived a rich life full of wonder, made a remarkable contribution to the deepening knowledge of mankind, and died with dignity. We should all be so fortunate. RIP Opportunity. You were blessed.
3
Rest in peace, Opportunity. You were a good and faithful rover who just kept going and going and going. You are my choice for Best of Show.
3
They could have at least waited until after Valentine's Day to tell us. Two more days wouldn't have hurt anything.
4
Farhad-
I really appreciate you! The editorial is good and creative... but the tweet caused two separate belly-laughs... my wife thought I might be having a seizure.
It's been fun Now lets do it again. And learn more.
1
I bet if the new rover they send up there, just goes over to Opportunity and jiggles it a little, it will start right back up!
3
The Rover isn't dead, it just needs a jump-start.
1
Although it is a colossal waste of money, it is interesting to see what can happen to a planet when it's inhabitants destroy their natural environment.
Every penny of my taxes dollars spent on NASA is money I am always happy to pay.
I started following "Oppy" two years ago. NASA's wondrous little robot geologist trucking over the Red Planet, all alone after it's sister robot got stuck in a sand trap, aging - bad hip, bad arm, dementia. NASA scientists working the problems, playing in their sand box behind JPL, figuring out how to modify their commands to Oppy to keep the mission moving. Oppy willingly obeying.
I hoped against hope that Oppy would never stop listening and obeying.
NASA and Oppy and the Kepler space telescope represent, to me, the very best that is America: dream, hope, create, work hard, persevere. Oppy's final resting place in Perseverance Valley is fitting.
I love everything about NASA, especially the scientists' love of music. It brings tears to my eyes to know that Oppy's final musical send off was, "I'll be seeing you..."
Thank you NASA. Thank you Oppy.
8
Sometime, ages from now, a settler on Mars will come across Opportunity and it will remind them of how far they've come.
You've earned a long rest, Opportunity.
4
Jeez, and I thought I was weird for thanking my 38 year old refrigerator.
3
Nice to have, but not need to have. Axe NASA and all this exploration; invest money in improving planet Earth and preventing its destruction by humans.
1
@JCX I used to think that way. But I'd rather pay taxes for space exploration and discovery than for a border wall or boundless military spending.
6
Proving that we don't need the expense and danger of sending astronauts to the planets to do the science and research. Engineering trumps theater...
3
Inspiring. Let’s send people to Mars. Read Kim Staley Robinson’s Red Mars. Let’s go. Now.
1
Goodbye for now, Opportunity. I hope we come see you on your planet some day.
1
RIP, brave little robot.
5
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
6
Congratulations to all at NASA for a brilliant long-term success. Spirit and especially Opportunity paved the way for Mark Watney to land on Mars as part of the Ares 3 mission and survive as well as he did. What do you mean "The Martian" isn't true.
#thebook was better
6
So are the Martians laughing about how easy it was for them to avoid detection by Earthlings?
3
"Man is not the most majestic of the creatures; long before the mammals even, the dinosaurs were far more splendid. But he has what no other animal possesses: a jigsaw of faculties, which alone, over three thousand million years of life, made him creative. Every animal leaves traces of what he was. Man alone leaves traces of what he created."
— Jacob Bronowski (Episode 1, "The Ascent of Man," 1973)
4
Fascinating story.
1
This article illustrates that it is a waste of money to make humans part of the crew. Humans should be included only when they can perform duties that robotic machines can not do, and that field is shrinking. Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg estimated that the manned moon flights contributed about as much science as an average high school science fair. The moon flights were marvels of systems engineering and human bravery but not much science. My Air Force career was largely involved with unmanned spacecraft, mainly Military weather satellites and photographic spy satellites. These topics are mostly declassified today. I still hold astronauts in respect. Three of the twelve moon walkers were classmates when the Air Force sent me to MIT 1962-64. My point is that humans in space greatly increase the cost of the mission. Imagine the difficulty of keeping a human alive on Mars for over 10 years, and then bringing her safely back to Earth.
9
Yesterday my eyes welled with hope upon the news of one courageous former space traveler‘s announcement of his Senate candidacy. Today they welled with both wonderment and a sense of loss upon the news of another hardy space traveler’s demise.
It is amazing that Opportunity traveled millions of miles and survived nearly 15 years against long odds to significantly advance our scientific understanding.
Many thanks to NASA for all their hard work and incredible contributions over so many decades! (Hard to imagine there are folks who decry rigorous science.)
14
Ever since I saw this story this morning, I've been thinking about the rover that has come to be known as Oppy, sitting by itself on Mars, with so many human hearts here on Earth wishing it a final farewell. All the wonderful work of the men and women at NASA culminated in Oppy's epic voyage; that work shows the best of what America can do and that we must keep on doing. Rest well, little rover. You've done us proud. Best Martian robot ever.
10
How wonderful to be living in this time, to be around for the first space flights, the first visit to the Moon, the first movie of the surface of Venus, the first exploration of Mars, and the first spaceship leaving the Solar System.
Grateful for so many scientific discoveries, genius and sweat that were necessary to achieve this.
Only wishing humans would get along better !
13
I've never understood why they don't have a simple cleaning system for the solar panels. I've never seen that question even asked. Compressed air? Wipers?
2
These relics on the Moon and Mars will likely outlive the human race and persist as sentinels of our existence. Our immortality is assured.
39
@Elon Brady it is a vastly human assumption to make that this junk will ever be of interest to a non-human intelligence, even if it is still around in some form for an unthinkable time.
RIP, Opportunity. Your contribution to the wonders of the universe will not be forgotten. Thank you and NASA, too. When I read about this accomplishment, my faith in progress in all matters is restored. In the Age of Trump, we must never forget our capabilities.
7
This news just about breaks my heart. I've been keeping track of it since it first landed. I'm hoping that another big wind will dust off Opportunity and he'll wake up to surprise us anew. We are a curious race of beings and our need to explore has taught us so much about us and our place in the universe.
When it was launched I was pleased to discover that Daffy (Duck Dodgers of the 24-1/5 century) was on the mission badge).
I imagine that many members of the mission are shedding a few tears.
9
Congratulations to NASA on this 15-year-long mission, and condolences on its end. Nothing lasts forever and there is no perpetuum mobile.
3
Opportunity was fortuitously named. Launched soon after the series of blunders and miscalculations of previous missions it made the effort a success. A bit of that summer of '69 feeling lives on, and hopefully will far into the New Millenia.
3
And the best part is, I had the privilege of being alive from the time they began to repurpose rockets of war into rockets of exploration to rovers showing me the sights of other planetary bodies. At the same time a revolution occurred in cosmology. I went from the evil Ming's rockets with strings to the unfettered travelings of people, machines and black holes. Makes me long for a glass of Ovaltine. Thanks NASA for doing the heavy lifting.
3
Like the Voyager probes that preceded it, the Mars Rover is a feat of American ingenuity and engineering, giving back far more than we ever expected, going where we can’t (yet) go.
I can’t help but feel a sentimental attachment to these intrepid human creations
5
Research. Development. Data. Exploration. Vision. It doesn’t get any better...
5
The Tragic Sadness of Mars....
Let us stop for just a moment and contemplate what we have seen through Opportunity's eyes.
A planet. An entirety or at least a good part of Planet, empty of the space of man. Empty even of its own thought. Rendered a ghost by time and mystery.
Do we not see our own distant future in this husk, this inhospitable place?
In its quiet airless beauty we are far more post-human as opposed to pre-human. This is climate change writ large. This is apocalyptic Nuclear War. Mars is a warning. A profound warning.
I do hope we colonize. We need to as a species if we are to survive. I agree with Musk on this one. But with this particular planet we will be reviving something. Something horrible happened here. Let us be warned.
3
Let’s start by colonizing Antarctica. At least it has a breathable atmosphere and familiar gravity, and doesn’t require costly spacecraft. Colonizing planets is not required if we preserve our earthly environment. Our sun is good for another 5 billion years.
2
God speed, little friend...your hard work (60x it’s supposed lifetime) is a gift to us all.
3
Is it wrong to feel grief and mourn this remarkable machine?
5
Opportunity did a great job!!
1
I’m sad and feel like a person I was fond of has died. When I look up at Mars tonight, I will be thinking of Opportunity.
1
Congrats to NASA! Robots are taking over on earth. Why would we send men to Mars in the foreseeable future?
NASA has had such a great record and created so many innovations. Hopefully SpaceX will continue to contribute as well, since NASA has had most of its programs cut.
The rover died! You can bet Trump was responsible for this.
Jk I'm so glad to read something apolitical.
1
RIP Opportunity. We learned much from the working of your parts and instrumentation. But remember, it was the humans that designed you and made you work.
Opportunity was declared dead today. Under trump, it has been merely on life support. RIP
Somebody will dig it up someday and it will again serve humanity.
1
Being of the "Apollo" generation and all the subsequent NASA exploits, this story brought warmth and light to my day.......why can't we have more of this.........
This is good a example of how to "Make America Whole Again" !
NASA .......we are standing by...... good for GO.........over !
1
Godspeed, Opportunity.
Mission Accomplished... and then some.
2
Living next to JPL lets me occasionally bump into the amazing people that created this and other wonder inducing projects. I try to remember to thank them every time it happens, next time I think I'll thank them twice : )
29
@trudds Thank them for me also.
3
Amazing success and beautiful pictures. Dust is insdious and possibly quite corrosive but maybe there is some chance that just the right conditions will clear the panels so the rover will come alive again. Unless the Martians have adapted the rover for their own uses.
1
The Mars rovers and space exploration in general are a fantastical notion just chock full of inspiration and dedication, but of little other value.
It would serve us better to stay closer to home---bigger better space stations and space shuttles, colonies on the moon, even the same for the depths of the oceans.
What a great accomplishment! But it is not a living being, it is a machine. So it never died, it just stopped operating.
Mr Chang’s brilliant journalism may be the reason but I was saddened by this news. While reading, I attributed qualities of courage and persistence to Spirit and especially to Opportunity, the little robot that could. This is an example of how our creations can manifest our qualities, which engages and connects with other humans. Something to consider as we advance development of robotics and AI. Congratulations to the brilliant NASA team and happy trails to Curiosity.
7
I recall the 60s with great fondness because of our space program, TV series like "Star Trek" and then Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon. That time had as many thrilling and exciting moments as it had tragedies and near tragedies like Apollo 11.
But all of that stuff and excitement and wonderment stayed with me my entire life which is why NASA's "Opportunity" was another one of those "greater than slice bread" moments. I can't believe 15 years has passed so quickly. It seems as if she barely got off the ground and now . . . she's done and will never share another piece of scientific data with us or the world.
I feel such a strong and deep sense of sadness, mainly because the focus and priority of our space program seems to have taken a back seat on many levels over the years. I feel as sad today as I did when John Glenn and Neil Armstrong passed away and as lost as I did when I heard about the tragedies of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.
I just want to thank the entire NASA family for all that you have done and continue to do. Your sense of exploration and hope and adventure helps keep this aging and appreciative senior always looking up and smiling and wondering, what if . . .
9
Thank you to the staff of NASA and others who made this wonderful journey possible.
5
I've been gob-smacked for years by the amazing discoveries we've made with remote instruments: our rovers, probes, space satellites, etc. They've done so well - and probably will continue to improve as robotics advances, that I wonder why there's any need to take the risks of sending humans up there again.
1
Thanks to all at NASA, JPL, and any others at organizations responsible for this mission. This is the kind of story I wish dominated the headlines these days. The work of very intelligent, dedicated people paying far more dividends than anticipated is a breath of fresh air. Keep up the fantastic work of keeping our species' curiosity alive.
3
There is a lesson here about the benefits of over-engineering.
That used to be common practice in all manufacturing and infrastructure ("built to last").
The new shoddy building we see (concrete panels slapped together to make malls and McMansions) echo the "just in time" principle that clogs our roads with short-run product fulfilments (because everyone pushes the cost of maintaining inventory, etc down to the next guy in the chain -- outsourcing storage, labour and everything else they can, whether to supplier or customer).
Wouldn't it be nice if we could use EXTRA LABOR to build BETTER structures that last, and give joy? Something solid, like Victorian, Greek, Roman, Egyptian architecture, which still with us -- instead of outsourcing even building products to China (e.g. cheap, flammable panels to stick on cruddy buildings to make them look superficially attractive.
3
It's so amazing and wonderful experience of the explore of the Mars Rover Opportunity and the researchers.
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to inspire and have a dream for the journey to the Mars in the future.
The most amazing discovery for me is an icons of water in Mars. When I heard this discovery that time , I was froze my body and freaked out.
I don't watch and hear the news of the conflict between human and human, between religion and religion.
Human should not focus on the money for the war , but to the dream for the future.
5
Congratulations and thank you to the scientists and engineers at NASA. Their amazing scientific and technical accomplishments are an inspiration, and remind us all of the vast limitlessness of what we are all capable of. Bravo!
7
A regular day for NASA is a miracle for people like me. Congratulations to the Mars Opportunity team. An amazing, wondrous achievement.
There's a conversation in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind":
Scientist: They haven't even aged. Einstein was right.
Team Lead: Einstein was probably one of them.
That's NASA.
12
I simply can’t articulate how wonderful this entire story is. Thank you for warming my day, albeit in a somewhat bittersweet way.
8
Designed for 90 days of operation, but remained functional in sending us valuable data for over 5,000 days. if only our other government agencies could do likewise - with great irony, current administration is constantly seeking ways to cut scientific budgets - as if they are the non-performing drains.
Bravo NASA! Bravo!
15
You know, many things built by the government (and governments of long ago) are still standing and are in productive use while many commercial endeavors have come and gone by wrecking ball.
6
Imagine where we would be had we not started to gaze inward (to the low Earth orbit space shuttle program) after Apollo 13 and instead had completed the Apollo 18 and 19 missions and then turned our attention to Mars? But I think now Mars is within reach. We need to ponder the massive economic and technological progress a serious Mars mission in the spirit of the Netflix series "Mars" would yield? People, please consider the possibilities. By now we should be moving past Mars to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. If only we should live long enough to see it.
5
I showed the map of images to my teenage daughter and she thought it was cool. Mission Accomplished!
2
@Steve S Please sit her down to watch the Netflix documentary "The Mars Generation". She will see she could be the Gene Kranz of the manned Mars mission.
Opportunity shows us humans what we can now and into the future when we work together towards common goals.
An opposite reminder of today when often opportunity seems lost when we witness divisions and a lack of wisdom to bring the world forward as if we are stuck in the mud.
Opportunity showed us how to go the distance on Mars. We need to do better to go the distance on Earth.
3
Well done and congratulations, NASA. I work in a technical field (solar, actually) and I can't imagine the engineering that went into creating something that sophisticated that could last that long in the extremely hostile environment of space. Truly inspiring.
14
I have the greatest respect, admiration, and appreciation for NASA and the work it does, always have. But there's one thing they consistently do that bugs me.
They take the expression "underpromise & overdeliver" to ridiculously new levels. This is a great example with this rover. They tell us it'll last 3 months and it goes 15 years. So as far as I can tell only two things can explain such an extreme discrepancy:
One, they're so incompetent that they grossly underestimate the capability of their own engineering designs. That's highly unlikely.
The far more likely explanation is that they intentionally set the bar so low that their reputation will remain intact if there's an unexpected early failure. Then they look like heroes (and their funding is secure) when a 3 month project goes 15 years.
3
@J Darby When you're pioneering, it can be difficult to anticipate all the factors that affect the success of your mission. The article states that they didn't anticipate the wind being able to clean the solar array as well as it did.
5
@JL Pacifica
Yes, we usually see similar explanations in these situations. Why not disclose that up front, like give a range?
They've been doing this kind of thing for many decades now, they have a pretty good idea what to expect.
1
@J Darby
A machine can fail in many ways, and some of these are due to the conditions under which the machine operates and to what percentage of its capacity it is operated. Launch stresses can bend frame components, intense interplanetary radiation from the sun (and other unknown sources) damages semiconductors and plastics, and then there's damage encountered in landing and in operating in an exceedingly harsh environment.
An engineer tries to predict these and design for them, but even in the well-known conditions of Earth the results are decidedly mixed. Outer space + Mars constitute difficulty greater by several orders of magnitude.
1
"Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft"
1
Does NASA or has NASA published a book of Mars Rovers photographs? If not, it should.
3
Some day we'll get back. Great job NASA.
5
Absolutely remarkable pieces of machinery.
2
How splendid an achievement.
It's always interesting to me how we anthropomorphize these [wonderful] machines, and view them with awe and affection even thought they were made by us.
Amazing engineering!
6
Bravo Opportunity! R.I.P. I hope some antique collector picks you up in some distant century and you're placed in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.
I would be remiss if I did not point out how much we've learned from a project that cost so little money. In future, we should build 6 to 12 of these rovers and probes at a time, and send them different point on Mars, Saturn, Titan and Pluto.
Joe Hanc
6
OBIT From The Onion:
Spacecraft Travel From All Over Galaxy To Honor End Of Opportunity Rover’s Life
"MARS—Journeying thousands of lightyears to honor their fallen peer, spacecraft traveled from all over the Milky Way to attend a ceremony celebrating the late Opportunity rover’s life, sources close to the deceased reported Wednesday. “We came as soon as we received the gamma-ray transmission informing us of Opportunity’s demise,” said Zorunder X, a sentient interstellar ship from Kepler-442b, who reportedly joined the hyper-ion motorcade of his fellow AIs, unmanned shuttlecraft, and alien-machine hybrids traveling to Mars to mourn the loss of NASA’s longest-serving planetary rover. “It’s always a bit of a trek to get here, but we knew we had to come to the Red Planet and pay our respects. While we sometimes had our differences, at the end of the day, Opportunity and I always respected each other’s missions. It’s a sad occasion, of course, but it’s nice to see so many friends gathering together to say goodbye.” Reports confirmed the service concluded with a touching eulogy from Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who tossed the first ceremonial handful of red dust onto the rover’s grave before it was lowered into the ground."
10
Yes, I'm going to miss Opportunity, but I'm just wondering whether it's responsible to leave our space junk (no offense rovers) on a planet that isn't ours and that we have no way to remove for years to come? Just because we were able to get to Mars doesn't give us the right to pollute it with our technological gadgets.
I'm grateful for space exploration. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a young girl, but how dare we Americans (typical) just land some rovers on Mars and leave them there? What about contamination? I know that a lot of care and concern went to keeping the lab environment sterile (I watched the documentary), but I still wonder.
We are so arrogant. We all know about sailing the seas and "discovering" new lands and ultimately destroying the indigenous people living there and taking over just because we got there "first" or just because we could.
1
Direct my taxes to NASA, not not the wall.
22
All engineers should be beaming with pride!
1
RIP little Opportunity. Just reading about your exploits gives me a thrill
1
I don't know why I feel so sad for Opportunity and Spirit, which were both alone when they died. Can't NASA fund a rocket to pick them up and give them a proper burial?
3
The success of Opportunity shows how important non-human missions are. We learned much more with less expense than would have been possible sending billionaire-funded astronauts. Martian colonization is a very distant dream. Let's send a generation of automated material recovery rovers to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
1
Now! That is what I call a "mission accomplished".
2
Amazing that the Martian day is so close to Earth’s. Only 40-minute difference! Life definitely could’ve been there before!
1
Bravo to NASA and the Mars team. If everything went this well we'd all be in great shape.
1
An outstanding achievement of NASA!
It would be interesting to see whether a maned mission could repair the rover - or - even bring it back "Home".
I am looking forward to it!
1
Dr. Harrison . . . thanked them for 15 years of work with Spirit and Opportunity and said he was now signing off. . . “There had been a lot of talking and laughing and whatnot between crying and hugging,” she said. “As soon as that moment happened, it just went silent.”
It wasn't the "death" of the rover, "Opportunity" that gave me pause when I first saw this headline. It was the incredible collaboration of intelligence, time, dedication, and teamwork on this project that had come to a close. Saying a final good-bye, regardless of the reason or the event, is always a sad, melancholy, parting of the ways.
Thank you to all of the scientists and hard working individual who helped make this project a huge and lasting success.
From one space and science lover to another - I'm signing off.
17
RIP Rover, you gave science invaluable data and eyes into another world.
3
NASA -- a can-do federal agency that has inspired billions around the world, which continues to marvel. While a blustering president dispenses chaos, and a heartless Congress stymies any sensible efforts to stem gun violence, a lone and brave federal agency studies earth science (read climate change), visits planets, and charts our tiny yet powerful presence in a vast and undiscovered universe, where mysteries abound, and the magic spell of life seems just out of reach.
32
Something of the magnitude of the Mars Rover seems like it occurred in a different era. I hope that once we get over the Trump nightmare that we may do something of the caliber of the Mars Rover again.
13
"The rover was designed for 90 days of exploration, but remained functional for more than 5,000 Martian days."
Another example of exceeding the warranty to an amazing degree for NASA science missions. Don't forget we're still getting data from Voyager 1 and 2 - which launched in 1977 and are now both officially beyond the solar system.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/784/nasas-voyager-2-probe-enters-interstellar-space/
28
“... finely layered rocks that preserved ripples of flowing water several billion years ago, a prerequisite for life.” And don't tell me that it doesn't suggest what the Earth will look like if we don't really try to save it.
13
@Roland Berger OK, we won't say a word.
“Longest lasting robot on another planet ever”??? We have barely started our exploration of other planets! Perhaps we could leave such excessive hyperbole to the current White House occupant?
I look forward to the day our probes reach Alpa Centauri Prime!
1
Traveling at the same speed as the Voyager 1 (17 km/sec), it would take something like 80,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri.
2
How long ago was it that that little stupid red planet had water? Millions or billions.... . can’t remember which; Don’t think I want to take a long trip to that little red planet anytime soon. I think it would be wise to work on our own planet instead of looking for available resources from another.Although, if one wants an example of what ol’ mother earth’s going to be like – well there she be, up there in the sky for our viewing pleasure (Have they pointed Hubble out that way,, To get a close-up view, yet?) this is the only disappointment that I’ve ever had about Elon Musk... But it’s probably just simple business strategy i.e. for more business,, go to big govum and provide better, cheaper rockets for planetary exploration
1
And now his watch is ended ;-{
4
wow! What an achievement!
4
Almost belongs on the Obit page.
17
Unaccountably saddened by this news.
8
I am not at all ashamed to admit that a PBS special on the rovers a few years brought me to tears as it seemed the end of Spirit. Not just for its end but for the intrepid nature of the robots but dedication of the people who were behind them. While the rovers are machines they are in fact extensions of us, the people who made and piloted them. They are the human spirit projected beyond our grasp on the surface of another world.
I thank the Times for the chart of the Opportunity's trek over the surface of Mars. Seeing all that it did reveals how successful it was and what a life it had and helps temper its loss. How immeasurably more we now know of our sister planet due to two plucky rovers and those men and women who imbued them with their spirit.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/13/science/opportunity-rover-mars-map.html
16
Kudos to NASA and JPL--Mission Accomplished !
Too bad Curiosity isn't equipped with a feather duster--help a brother out--go find Opportunity and dust off those solar panels :-)
Headline on National Enquirer: Opportunity isn't dead. Seen hanging out with Elvis in the Ukraine. Ha
Seriously, though, these accomplishments go down as some of NASA's and JPL's finest to date.
1
Can’t we send somebody from the Space Force to go fix it?
5
Good job, Oppy. Now... another budget cut.
1
“It is good to renew one's wonder, said the philosopher. Space travel has again made children of us all.”
Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles
102
Can't believe I teared up reading this.
Here's to all the people who made it happen.
My heroes!
8
A well-designed machine. Congratulations to all who were involved in the design and construction of this superb machine.
4
It is touching that a mission such as this would be able to function for so long. I hope there will be significant discoveries from this scientific experiment that enable us to better understand our place in the universe.
68
Bravo Opportunity, Bravo NASA!!! This news of Opportunity's endurance and NASA's staff brings me close to tears. An ET moment.
We don't need Walls, we need more funding for the great work of NASA.
Thank you all
217
Amazing. This is the kind of story that refreshes national interest in space exploration. Rest in peace, interplanetary adventurer!
119
@Arctic Vista
Yes, Americans will dare thinking they are the best. Is it Making America Great Again?
2
@Roland Berger No, not great -- just the envy of small minds.
4
@Roland Berger No, just the object of envy among small minds.
5
Rest in peace Opportunity, and thank you.
There is nothing that resonates more deeply in me about the human potential than our exploration of space. Thank you to the entire NASA team.
158
Watching the video of these scientists' joy, pride, excitement, and, yes, sadness at the eventual demise of the vehicle they actually loved, is a powerful reminder of the importance of science and engineering in our consciousness. My math skills stop at using a spreadsheet to budget my finances, and my (very limited scientific knowledge lies somewhere in the distant past in my high school biology and chemistry labs. However, riveting accounts like this underscore for me the potential of mankind as we struggle to understand the universe around us and our place in it. We cut our educational funding for STEM at our peril; these people that we too often we label as nerdy are heroes in their own way. I tip my hat to them.
136
Ever since the moon landing decades ago, the most exciting and fruitful space exploration has been performed by unmanned missions, such as the Hubble telescope and the Mars landings. NASA wasted a lot of money on the space shuttle and to a lesser extent on the various space stations that should have gone into unmanned exploration of the planets elsewhere in the solar system.
1
If only computers, appliances and cell phones got 15 years of use! Today’s planned obsolescence contributes to the global waste crisis vs the good old days of buy once and repair as needed.
5
The end had to come eventually, but now it comes as a bittersweet end to the MER mission. A job well done to both Opportunity and Spirit, and amazing work by the engineers and scientists at JPL and NASA, for making such intrepid little rovers.
Now they rest, and maybe one day we'll be able to find them, and bring them back home. Until then, sleep well, little guys.
8
I shed a tear.
I teach physics and am a mentor for a Robotics team.
In physics, we do projects. Among them are to have the students build catapults to launch marshmallows to various targets, including two that are over a wall.
I always show the NOVA video "Mars: Dead or Alive" as an introduction to the "ultimate" catapult.
In the video, the engineers are faced with many failures and time deadlines that they persevere through and solve, just as I hope the students will.
In Robotics, the incorporation of various technologies to work in harmony and create a solution to a challenge is a perfect metaphor for our Robotics competitions.
The fact that these two Rovers lasted far beyond their intended lifespans is a testament to the value of spending taxpayer dollars on science and technology endeavors.
No, the money was not placed on the Rovers, rather it supported the paychecks of many engineers, manufacturers, machinists and administrative personnel. This investment then multiplied through the economy and also created new technological advances.
Far more bang for the buck than a simple wall.
39
Outstanding technical accomplishments. Even the failures are important and useful as we reach out for more information and understanding about our world, the planets around us and the objects beyond our reach, for now.
As I read this article, I thought to myself, "Gosh, it's too bad there isn't nearly as much profit in extraordinary achievement as there is in foreign misadventures, war profiteering and our grotesquely bloated defense budget."
How much better off would everyone be if there were.
To everyone who contributed to these missions to Mars, thank you and very, very well done.
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Congratulations to the mission team and including the engineers who designed and built the Spirit and Opportunity rovers!
A truely incredible accomplishment that illustrates the strength and economy of robotic missions.
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I listened to NPR radio broadcast the other day and enjoyed hearing about the persistency and durability of the machine and how it far exceeded expectations. I recall seeing photos periodically throughout the 'life' and movements of this amazing thing. This NASA success story is a testament to the ingenuity and problem-solving abilities of all the people involved. Thank you to them.
Thank you to the machine itself, and may the Mars rover 'Opportunity' rest in peace. Perhaps one day when we return it can be dusted off and another few mysteries of its survival will be resolved.
This sort of thing should be funded by our government. Not things that are barriers to understanding ourselves, whatever our origins.
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Nice story.
One minor note: The University of Washington is in Seattle.
Washington University is in St. Louis.
It's a major difference.
3
Job well done. R.I.P.
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I'm shrouding the mirrors in black, but for how long for a robot is the question.
8
Since its non-responsiveness is apparently due to solar panels blocked by dust, I suggest, perhaps out of nostalgia or denial, that Opportunity is only hibernating, not dead.
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@Brian,
Wouldn't that be something?
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I love it! ALL HAIL THE NERDS! This a fantastic achievement. I'm excited to see what the next probes discover!
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The Little Rover Who Could. R.I,P.
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Reach for the sky, but don’t look at the mud below.
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Knuckle bumps and high 5s to Nasa and all its great people.
Well done, indeed!
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I love you Opportunity. I imagine you are treading along in peace and quiet in the dust storms of Mars. Thank you for all the pixels.
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Thanks, Opportunity! You’re one of my top five space adventures: Voyager Mission, Apollo Landings, Mars Rovers, Hubble Telescope and the International Space Station! Great job — Rest in Peace.
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@Frank Fields You left out the formation of the SPACE FORCE!
Reminds me of a passage from Ursula K. Le Guin's "Left Hand of Darkness:"
"On that second day we abandoned our sledge [...] It was good to be released from forever pulling and pushing and hauling and prying that sledge, and I said so to Estraven as we went on. He glanced back at the sledge, a bit of refuse in the vast torment of ice and reddish rock. "It did well," he said. His loyalty extended without disproportion to things, the patient, obstinate, reliable things that we use and get used to, the things we live by."
RIP Opportunity, and thanks for a difficult job well done.
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We have $21 trillion of debt - we have a $965 billion dollar deficit in 2019 - according to the Washington Post, the U.S. Government has $128 trillion of unfunded liabilities (pensions); we have a crumbling infrastructure - there are 18.5 million Americans living in extreme poverty, less than $2 a day.
I'm not sure how much the Mars mission cost, but whatever it was, it was a waste of money. We can't even feed children in America and we're spending billions going to Mars.
Someday, those missions will end - when there's no more money.
We're not in outer space for the glory or great accomplishments - we need to fix our Country first.
1
Why not cut corporate tax breaks first? Or the bloated defense budget (I mean the diffuser jets, *not* the health care benefits)? Or so many other things before we touch scientific endeavors? There might not be immediate benefit from the rovers but we need an escape plan from Earth... all it takes is one unseen meteor and humanity goes the way of the dinosaurs.
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@JMS, NASA's budget for 2017 was $19.5 billion. You would gain more in savings by shaving the defense budget by less than 5%. Not to mention, the return on investment for NASA projects is literally out of this world. The only better investment is in education, which is budgeted for $69.4 billion; less than 15% of our defense spending.
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@JMS A quick Google search reveals that NASA's entire annual budget is just shy of $21 billion. That's the entire organization's budget, for everything it does, not just Mars missions, everything. That's about one one-thousandth of the debt, or one-fiftieth of the deficit figure, that you quoted.
The figure that comes up for the Mars Opportunity mission, both probes, is either $800 million or $2.1 billion, an admittedly wide range that likely counts two different sets of costs, but a rounding error in deficit/debt terms either way. Like, not even pennies on the dollar.
Or if you're partial to border walls, it would pay for between one-seventh and one-third of a wall with Mexico.
For comparison, the Department of Defense's annual budget is $717 billion, enough to pay for either 340 or 900 Mars Opportunity missions.
The Iraq war cost on the order of $1 trillion, again comparable to about 500-1000 Mars missions. Which may be the most relevant comparison, given that they are both expeditions to deserts that were supposed to be over in 90 days and ended up lasting 14 years.
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A great accomplishment by brilliant engineers and scientists. We should continue to send unmanned robots to planetary bodies with the potential for microbial life. We should build land and space-based telescopes to scan the heavens in every spectrum possible. We should increase the budgets for these projects and make them national teaching tools for children, intertwined with a worldwide green Earth push.
What we should not do (at least not this century) is send humans to Mars. It would siphon massive amounts of very scarse funding off robotic and telescopic projects that will garner exponentially more relevant and exciting information and data. Sending people to Mars is a terrible waste of public dollars. A robot can plant a flag and send a tweet.
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I have been so impressed with the photo's. Wish we could focus more on these amazing endeavours. Thanks all. It was such fun.
16
Many thanks to those who squired this mission and Opportunity through amazing, challenging barriers. Bravo!!
18
The Mission to Mars has been a great success, and NASA’s continuing Mission to Earth, even greater.
The science revealed goes beyond gentle rovers to multi-spectral satellites, mapping gravity, predicting weather, modeling climate and monitoring water. The Mission to Earth is NASA’s daily payoff.
Would that NASA’s bosses listen to their own science, of which we are so proud. It’s a great Opportunity.
16
Sometimes I question whether technology is making life better on *this* planet but I sure can't ignore that this little guy and all the people who made its journey possible have given Earth a tremendous gift. It would be nice if advancements like this got as much attention as the newest e-toy. Hats off to everyone involved!
20
The whole mission and it's accomplishment is amazing. Congratulations to every worker and scientist who made it happen. Now, may the great vehicle rest in peace.
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This is good science; so much data can be gleaned from this. If Mars is ever habitable, these space junk relics will be like our terrestrial treasure chests and pirate ships. Hopefully by that time, if ever, there won't be too much of it.
11
What a remarkable achievement. No doubt it started as a vision without much detail, but with much perseverance, ingenuity and money evolved into one our great accomplishments of all time.
If only we could harvest that kind of sense of purpose to address our pressing problems, i.e., climate change, healthcare, etc.
I wonder if anybody back then denied the existence of mars?
21
An astounding human accomplishment. Congratulations to the entire team from 2001 until now!
46
This was an amazing scientific accomplishment! It is a terrible shame that so much of the public only focuses on space exploration when astronauts are sent into space.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this remarkable 15 year success story!
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