The Little Rover That Could

One of mankind’s main goals is reaching Mars. Before we can set foot on the Red Planet, we must explore the new world to see if it is worth the effort as well as see if there is a way to make the planet and those that explore it safe. The best way that we have been able to observe Mars is through our many rovers, which have rolled around on the surface of Mars for years. Sadly, one of those rovers was just lost, as the famous machine “Opportunity” was just declared dead by NASA.

Opportunity is one of the four successful rovers that landed on Mars. According to the Cornell Chronicle, this wonderful rover was “designed to travel 1,100 yards and run for 90 Martian sols (days that are 39 minutes longer than Earth days)...”. This was the original plan, but Opportunity ended up roaming the planet for fifteen years. The primary achievement in these fifteen years was, best said by USA Today, was when it found that “Rocks near the Opportunity rover's landing site ... contained pearl-shaped rocks that formed in pre-existing wet sediments, as well as finely layered ripples, crossbeds, and niches where crystals once grew and were later redissolved.” This means there was likely water on Mars long before we started to observe the planet.

This fifteen-year adventure has officially ended, as AL says that “Opportunity went silent June 1 when a giant dust storm covered the solar arrays that powered its batteries. Scientists had seen this before, but the was typically blown away by the next day’s winds. That did not happen this time, and Opportunity never recovered.” After eight long months of attempting to contact the rover and failing, NASA is halting any and all attempts to reach the machine. It has been decided, also quoted by AL, that NASA has “made every reasonable engineering effort to try to recover Opportunity and have determined that the likelihood of receiving a signal is far too low to continue recovery efforts.” Opportunity is being honored by the NASA engineers who designed and constructed the rover, along with science enthusiasts around the world.

The last functioning Mars rover, named “Curiosity,” landed on Mars on August 6, 2012. Curiosity has continued the research performed by the three previous rovers, including Opportunity, and will continue to do so until Curiosity meets its untimely demise as well. NASA confirms that they are planning to land another rover on Mars sometime in 2020, the name of this new rover has not yet been revealed.

Although Opportunity is now gone, and what last hope there is of the rover’s survival will be destroyed in the upcoming Mars winter, the legacy of “The Little Rover That Could” will stay with us forever. Eventually, we will land on Mars. When that day comes, we will know that Opportunity is one of the reasons that our manned mission was possible. Maybe, just maybe, we will find Opportunity stopped somewhere on the surface of Mars whenever we finally make that landing.