Opportunity has ended it’s mission

NASA’s Opportunity Rover looks back over its own tracks on Aug. 4, 2010. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Last night, NASA sent it’s final communique to the Opportunity rover. Somehow managing to last more than 14 years past it’s 90 day mission, Opportunity stopped responding after being blanketed by a planet wide dust storm last June.

It’s last message was received on June 10th, 2018. It sent that last message from Perseverance Valley. It went into hibernation mode shortly after that. It was hoped by NASA that after dust storm ended and the Martian winds had blown the the dust off the solar panels, that contact would be reestablished. After a final attempt was made to contact
Opportunity on February 12th, 2019 NASA declared the project dead. For mission highlight’s check out Six Things to Know About NASA’s Opportunity Rover. Selfie from Opportunity. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

A perspective view of Opportunity’s final location, taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in February of 2018.