NASA's Opportunity Rover Sends Ominous Photo Marking the End of 15 Years of Exploration on Mars

The universe has always drawn humanity towards it, and throughout the centuries, humans have looked up to the stars for answers, in curiosity and exploration. NASA’s Opportunity rover became one of the most successful interplanetary missions in human history. However, that incredible journey came to a dramatic end in 2019 after 15 years of record-breaking work on Mars. The scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) were concerned about whether the last message would reach, as there was a massive dust storm. NASA later shared the elusive message sent by the rover.

Opportunity’s Journey Across Mars

In 2003, NASA launched Opportunity’s rover, along with the Spirit rover, designed for a 90-day mission to explore Mars. Opportunity lived years beyond its expected lifespan, working over 15 years, traveling 28 miles on the surface of Mars, becoming the first of all rovers to complete a marathon on another planet. It was tasked to explore the Meridiani Planum, a region of Mars, for signs of water and geological features that could provide more insight into the Red Planet and its environment. The mission was a success, one of the most notable discoveries being the identification of hematite, a mineral that forms in the presence of water, leading to the opinion that Mars once supported all conditions needed for microbial life. Opportunity opened up possibilities for other rovers, like the Perseverance rover, to flourish, as reported by Daily Galaxy.

The End of Opportunity’s Journey

Opportunity was operating way beyond its expected lifespan by the time summer of 2018 rolled by. But a huge, planet-wide dust storm severely impacted the rover and its ability to perform. As Opportunity was powered by solar panels and the storm had covered Mars, sunlight could no longer reach its panels, causing it to go into hibernation mode.

The engineers believed that the rover could wait it out and recharge once the dust settled down. But, despite all hopes, the rover did not wake up, and after multiple attempts over months, NASA officially declared the mission’s end. "We have made every reasonable engineering effort to try to recover Opportunity and have determined that the likelihood of receiving a signal is far too low to continue recovery efforts," remarked John Callas, the manager of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project at JPL.

The Final Message

Opportunity bid goodbye to Earth on June 10, 2018, sending one last message before it went to sleep forever. The final transmission was not a standard data packet or readings, but a blurry image taken from the rover’s PanCam (Panoramic Camera). The image was taken from the left eye of the camera, with the solar filter turned to the Sun. The dust storm, however, blocked the Sun, leading to a dark, fuzzy image that showed nothing but blackness. The image was in the process of being taken when the rover’s transmission failed to go through, which led to the lower part of the image being a black space. NASA further explained that the white specks seen in the image were from the noise from the camera itself, and the darkness caused by the storm led to the noise being more visible than usual.

"The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made their last attempt to revive Opportunity on Tuesday, to no avail. The solar-powered rover’s final communication was received on June 10," NASA confirmed, per Daily Galaxy.