NASA robot rover Opportunity leaves us one last glorious panorama

NASA officially bid farewell to the March Opportunity rover in February, but the small robotic explorer still delivers the goods.

On March 12, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) unveiled a set of stunning 360-degree panoramas captured by Opportunity in Perseverance Valley, just on the western edge of a huge Martian crater called Endurance.

And of course, we have already seen remarkable panoramas on Mars, including those captured at Gale Crater by the younger sister of Opportunity, Curiosity. But this one feels a bit more special, considering that Opportunity has come to this very place – with this immaculate view – until human beings (or other sentient beings) can retrieve it.

The color panorama was constructed via a sequence of 354 images taken by the rover's panoramic camera between May 13 and June 10, 2018. It features a number of interesting features of the Perseverance Valley, in addition to the pristine soil. unexplored crater endurance. The black and white frames at the bottom left of the image result from the fact that the mobile did not have time to take the location with its filters. before a planetary dust storm surrounds Mars.

"This final panorama embodies what made our Rover Opportunity such a remarkable mission of exploration and discovery," said John Callas, Opportunity Project Manager at JPL.

You can view more detailed details of the huge panorama on the NASA JPL website.

Although the panorama offers a last glimpse of Opportunity's rest areas, the latest rover image tells a slightly darker story. This incomplete picture, seen below, shows the darkness that is ending and that would eventually end Opportunity. The noisy image, with a large black bar, gives the impression that Opportunity was cut off, in the middle of a sentence, while she was sending a last communication to the house. I'm pretty emotional about it.

NASA has declared the rover dead – and his mission finished – on February 13th. Originally conceived for a three-month mission, Opportunity has continued to persevere for 15 years, expanding our knowledge of the red planet and providing the basics of humanity to one day visit our next cosmic. and follow in his footsteps. Perhaps, in the not too distant future, we can even find it half buried in the Martian soil, and get ready to take him home.