After 15 years, the mission of NASA's Opportunity rover has come to an end, but its successes on Mars have earned it a spot in the robot hall of fame. Here's what you need to know about our intrepid Martian overachiever:
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Feb 14, 2019
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An elongated crater called "Spirit of St. Louis," with a rock spire in it, dominates a recent scene from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
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May 1, 2015
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is nearing a location on Mars at which its driving distance will surpass the length of a marathon race.
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Feb 12, 2015
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In the 10th year of a 90-day warranty, the Mars rover Opportunity begins its second decade of exploration and still traverses the oxidized terrain to answer crucial questions of cosmic exploration.
Space Exploration
Jan 20, 2014
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This mosaic image taken on Jan. 4, 2004, by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, shows a 360 degree panoramic view of the rover on the surface of Mars. Spirit operated for more than six years after ...
Space Exploration
Jan 6, 2014
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The ESA wants its operations on other planets to have greater mobility and manoeuvrability. SINTEF researchers are looking into whether snake robots could be the answer.
Space Exploration
Sep 16, 2013
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(Phys.org) —In May 2009, the Mars rover Spirit cracked through a crusty layer of Martian topsoil, sinking into softer underlying sand. The unexpected sand trap permanently mired the vehicle, despite months of remote maneuvering ...
Space Exploration
Sep 4, 2013
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Differences between Martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4000 million years ago—well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2500 million years ...
Space Exploration
Jun 19, 2013
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What are the types of things that happen on Mars when we're not looking? Some things we'll never know, but scientists with the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have seen evidence of bouncing boulders. They ...
Space Exploration
Apr 11, 2013
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In this latest update from the MSL team, Ashwin Vasavada, the Deputy Project Scientist, explains how Curiosity has been monitoring the winds and radiation levels in Gale Crater. Curiosity has also been looking for dust devils—the ...
Space Exploration
Nov 19, 2012
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Spirit, mission designation MER-A (Mars Exploration Rover - A), is the first of the two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars on 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin Opportunity (MER-B) landed on the other side of the planet. Its name was chosen through a NASA-sponsored student essay competition.
The rover completed its planned 90-sol mission, then, aided by cleaning events which resulted in higher power from its solar panels, went on to function effectively over twenty times longer than NASA planners expected. This allowed it to perform more extensive geological analysis of Martian rocks and planetary surface features. Initial scientific results from the first phase of the mission (roughly, the 90-sol prime mission) were published in a special issue of the journal Science.
On May 1, 2009, Spirit was stuck in soft soil on Mars, one of the mission's embedding events. NASA is carefully analyzing the situation to get the rover back on track, but it will take weeks before a new attempt will be made to extricate the rover from its current position called "Troy".
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