NASA's Opportunity Rover took a last 360-degree panorama on Mars

NASA's Opportunity Rover took one last breathtaking picture of the March landscape, before losing touch after 15 years last month.

The incredible 360 ​​degree panorama shows what would have been the last place to rest from Opportunity in Perseverance Valley.

It gives a view of the Endeavor crater rim in the distance, traces of Opportunity rovers and, on the extreme right and left, at the bottom of the Perseverance Valley.

The space agency lost contact with Opportunity after years of exploring the surface of the planet, paving the way for future missions.

Scroll for the video

A dust storm covered its location last June. After several attempts to restore contact from Earth, they received Opportunity's final communication on June 10th.

He returned a magnificent 360 degree panorama of the red planet. The panorama is composed of 354 individual images that Opportunity took from May 13 to June 10.

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

"To the right of the center, you can see the edge of Endeavor Crater rise up in the distance.

"Just to the left of this, rover tracks begin their descent beyond the horizon and pave their way to geological features that our scientists wanted to examine closely.

"And to the far right and to the left are the bottom of the Perseverance Valley and the floor of the endeavor crater, virgin and unexplored, awaiting visits from future explorers."

The mission of solar-powered pioneer Opportunity Rover has been hailed as one of the most successful and sustainable feats of interplanetary exploration.

"It's because of innovative missions such as Opportunity that there will be a day when our brave astronauts will walk to the surface of Mars," said NASA Administrator Jim last month. Bridenstine.

"And when that day comes, some of this first footprint will belong to Opportunity's men and women, and to a little rover who defies the prognoses and does so much in the name of exploration.

His scientific discoveries have contributed to an advanced understanding of the geology and environment of the planet, laying the foundation for future robotic and human missions in Mars' hostile environment.

The filters admit light centered on 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (purple) wavelengths.

Some images remain in black and white because the rover did not have time to record them using the green and purple filters before the dust storm.

After eight months of effort and the dispatch of more than a thousand orders to try to restore contact with the mobile, NASA 's mission was completed on February 13, 2019.

However, Mars exploration by NASA continues with the InSight lander, which landed in November, has just started its scientific research and Curiosity rover, which has been exploring Gale Crater for over six years .

The next rover 2020 mission will for the first time look for signs of microbial life on the planet, in collaboration with the ExoMars rover of the European Space Agency.