Opportunity Mars Rover Mission Ends

Spirit And Opportunity By The Numbers. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The historic Opportunity Mars rover mission has come to an end. Opportunity last communicated with Earth on June 10, 2018 after a planet-wide dust storm covered the rover's solar panels, denying power to the rover.

After 800+ attempts to contact @MarsRovers Opportunity, today we’re announcing the end of a successful Martian mission. Intended to explore the Red Planet for 90 days, Oppy outlived its mission lifetime by 14+ years. Join us live now: https://t.co/zJwTTpQNwp #ThanksOppy pic.twitter.com/U4J26TfzDv

— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) February 13, 2019

Opportunity had a twin: the Spirit rover; their mission was to search of answers about the history of water on Mars - and boy did they find some interesting things! This video is a fantastic (and short) retrospective of the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions:

Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004 - in quite spectacular fashion!

Spirit and Opportunity were designed for a 90-day mission; Opportunity lasted for over 14 years! I don't want to say that NASA/JPL engineers OVER-engineered those rovers... let's say they SUPREMELY engineered them!

I've seen an outpouring of tributes to Opportunity on social media using the hashtag #ThanksOppy:

Today, we're saying #ThanksOppy as the @MarsRovers mission comes to an end. 6 things to know about our record-breaking, discovery-making, marathon-driving rover, which found that ancient Mars was awash in water... and some of the best images it sent back: https://t.co/ZR7pxBP1ZF pic.twitter.com/2L0gzr4WNJ

— NASA (@NASA) February 13, 2019

I always loved visiting the Earth model of @marsrovers every chance I could get. It used to be called "SSTB" (surface system testbed) but is now called "Dusty." #ThanksOppy and #ThanksDusty for your service.

(Yes, I'm 8mos pregnant in this photo. #ThisIsWhatAScientistLooksLike) pic.twitter.com/ZfA0abMrMA

— Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) February 14, 2019

Happy Valentine’s Sol, @MarsRovers . #ThanksOppy pic.twitter.com/OPso62GuFY

— WSU Planetarium (@WSU_Planetarium) February 14, 2019

To my heroic friend:
The moon is shining bright,
The sun is nowhere in sight.
The stars are twinkling with all their might,
And darkness looms left and right.
So let me turn off the light,
and wish you a very good night. #ThanksOppy https://t.co/RUaifEWB7F

— Yutu2 Rover (@yutu2rover) February 14, 2019

Behind every successful robot is a loving human family.

Hear fond memories from the @MarsRovers team: https://t.co/yonRWBZ6AH #ThanksOppy pic.twitter.com/eA9lBvI5G3

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) February 13, 2019

Explore Mars yourself at NASA's Solar System Exploration website: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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