NASA rover Opportunity celebrates 15 years on Mars – staying as dead as doornail • The Register

Still, not bad for material supposed to last 90 days

A huge opportunity … The Mars rover of NASA in happier times

NASA scientists celebrated this week the fact that their robot partner Opportunity has spent the last fifteen years on Mars.

The six-wheeled bot was launched into space on July 7, 2003 and reached its final destination in less than a year, January 24, 2004. A day later, he returned his first signal on Earth.

Designed to run for 90 Martian days and cover just over 1,000 meters on Mars, Opportunity has exceeded expectations by traveling at least 45 kilometers (28 miles) for more than 10 years.

Sorry, but the Mars signal has not been seized by NASA

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Although this is a feat, the rover has not been really operational during its 15 years of presence on the red planet. In fact, NASA officials have not heard of it since the dust storm hit Mars and covered the solar panels of the robot last June.

"This anniversary can only be bittersweet because we do not know the status of the rover. We are doing everything in our power to communicate with Opportunity, but over time the likelihood of successful contact with the rover will continue to decrease, "said John Callas, NASA Project Manager for Opportunity.

The mission is not yet over yet. Engineers continue to send orders to Opportunity, hoping for an answer. The US space agency said that if it hears something back, its seasoned partners will try to regain control of the sleeping robot.

An opportunity was sent to Mars to uncover the mysteries of its past and helped scientists confirm the suspicion that the planet was not as dry as expected. He found hematite, a mineral that requires the formation of water, in rocks littered with the Meridiani Planum, an area south of the Martian equator.

Even if the geological robot is in hibernation, it remains the longest rover on Mars. He survived his twin sister, Spirit, who had landed earlier on Jan. 3 but broke down after his wheel was stuck in soft ground.

This meant that the rover could not properly steer his solar panels and that he was running out of juice in 2010. All is not lost, however, NASA's Curiosity nuclear propulsion rover continues to whistle , looking for signs of microbial life and should soon be joined by Curiosity 2.0, hopefully in the next few years. ®