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Last week, NASA announced that its long-term Mars Rover opportunity was finally dead after almost 15 years of exploring the surface of the red planet.
Subsequently, a handful of media reports that the rover's last message to the control of the mission was: "My battery is low and it is getting dark," citing a viral tweet from Jacob Margolis, a journalist specializing in science.
Words spread like wildfire on the Internet, causing many memes and YouTube videos. Some people have made t-shirts with the slogan, while a man has even tattooed the phrase on his shoulder.
However, Margolis did not intend to take his words to the letter and wrote an article for the LAiste that tries to clarify the situation.
"In the days that followed, the sentence was separated from the thread's context and overtook Twitter," Margolis wrote. "People started talking about it as if they were exactly the last words the biker said. the NY Daily News reported as a fact. "
"[NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory] I contacted to let me know that they were inundated with questions about the final message. And it seemed that most people understood the context in the tweet, many did not understand it. "
Margolis went on to explain that he was simply providing a "poetic translation" of what two NASA scientists had told him about Opportunity's effective final communication to mission control, in the form of data rather than words. .
First, Abigail Fraeman, researcher in charge of the project, told Margolis: "Basically, it was indicated that there was no power left, and this was the last time we heard about it. . "
John Callas, Project Manager at Opportunity, then explained, "He also told us that the sky is incredibly dark, to the point where sunlight does not come in. It's dark at night."
Even if the "last words" of the rover were perhaps not as poetic as some had thought, his time on the red planet was a huge success.
An opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 with a planned mission duration of 90 Martian days (just over 90 Earth days). But the rover has exceeded all expectations for almost 15 years. on his rugged terrain in the process.
The recent problems of the rover began in June 2018 after a huge dust storm hit Mars, covering the entire planet. NASA then lost touch, raising fears for Opportunity's survival due to the fact that the vehicle was relying on solar power to recharge.
On June 10, 2018, NASA received what turned out to be the latest communication from the rover. Since then, operators have sent over a thousand orders to restore contact before finally declaring that his mission was over: it's the final resting place, an area known as "Perseverance" Valley ".
"I can not think of a more appropriate place for stamina on the surface of Mars than a place called Perseverance Valley," Michael Watkins, director of the JPL, said in a statement. "The archives, the discoveries and the tenacity of this intrepid little beast testify to the ingenuity, dedication and perseverance of the people who built and guided it."
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