Mars Exploration Rovers - Spirit and Opportunity
In January 2004, two robotic geologists named Spirit and Opportunity landed on opposite sides of the red planet. Both rovers exceeded their planned 90-day mission lifetimes by many years. Spirit lasted 20 times longer than its original design until its final communication to Earth on March 22, 2010. Opportunity continues to operate more than a decade after launch. In 2015, Opportunity broke the record for extraterrestrial travel by rolling greater than the distance of a 26-mile (42-kilometer) marathon.
Transcript:
In the summer of 2003, two different rovers were sent to the surface of Mars for the purpose of exploration, to document a planet that we know so little about. Spirit and Opportunity landed on the surface of the red planet in January of 2004, and this is their legacy.
Our first rover, Spirit roamed the surface of Mars for 6 years, over five years longer than the mission was originally expected to run. Over the course of 6 years, this little guy collected over 124,000 images from Mars and traveled nearly five miles of the planet’s surface before being caught in a sand pit at an odd enough angle that Spirit could no longer recharge its batteries. Spirits last communication with Earth was on March 22, 2010, before NASA officially declared Spirit’s mission as complete.
In honor of the little rover that could, a televised farewell gathering was held at the NASA headquarters, honoring all the work completed by Spirit.
Spirits twin rover, Opportunity continued roaming for much longer, however. Opportunity was also quoted for a 90-day mission, yet exceeded all expectations on the robot’s lifespan and ended up lasting over 14 years. In that time, Opportunity sent over 215,000 images of the surface of Mars back to earth and traveled nearly 30 miles during its lifetime.
Midway through 2018, NASA lost communication with Opportunity during a severe sandstorm, reportedly scrambling Opportunity’s internal clock, keeping it from knowing when to sleep or wake up. Essentially sending the little robot into a permanent sleep mode.
Eight months passed as NASA sent over 1000 recovery commands to Opportunity in an effort to wake it back up. On February 12, 2018, NASA sent Opportunity one final message, in the form of a song. After Opportunity didn’t respond to Billie Holiday’s “I’ll be Seeing You.” NASA officially declared it’s mission as complete.
Despite being a robot, the team members were tearful at the loss of their beloved partner. Opportunity’s demise took the world by storm and trended across nearly every form of social media as earthlings bid their farewell. During the week of Opportunity’s farewell, NASA held a party in honor of the results from Opportunity’s journey. After 15 years, 200,000 images, and invaluable research on the surface of the red planet, Opportunity sent its final message to earth. “My battery is low, and it is getting dark.”
Opportunity and Spirit may be gone, but mankind’s exploration of Mars has not ended. One final rover still exists on Mars to this very day. Curiosity was the final rover sent to the planet, landing on August 6th, 2012. Curiosity was sent as a final act to the trio of rovers, studying the surface of Mars for conclusive evidence or past or previous life, and perhaps even the ability to sustain future life.
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Sources:
mars.nasa.gov/programmissions...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Ex...
www.space.com/mars-rovers-opp...
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28 мар 2019
