The NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has on February 14 officially declared the six-wheeled robot, Opportunity Mars rover, which landed on the Red Planet about 15 years ago searching for the possibility of life is dead.
According to ANI news reports, due to Mars-wide dust storm in its location in June 2018, the Opportunity rover had stopped communicating with Earth. After trying very hard to restore contacts, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NATA made their last effort on Tuesday to revive Opportunity but were not succeeded. Final communication by the solar-powered rover was received on June 20, 2018.
In a statement, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said, “It is because of trailblazing missions such as Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave astronauts walk on the surface of Mars.” He added, “And when that day arrives, some portion of that first footprint will be owned by the men and women of Opportunity, and a little rover that defied the odds and did so much in the name of exploration.”
Opportunity, which was designed to last 90 Martian days and travel about 1,100 yards, surpassed all the expectations in its longevity, scientific value and endurance. The opportunity has travelled more than about 28 times (45 km) by that time it reached its most final resting area – Perseverance Valley – on Mars.
The statement further added, “Whatever loss we feel now must be tempered with the knowledge that the legacy of Opportunity continues – both on the surface of Mars with the Curiosity rover and InSight lander – and in the clean rooms of JPL, where the upcoming Mars 2020 rover is taking shaped.”
Seven months after the rover’s launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Opportunity landed on January 24, 2004, in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. From the day it landed, a team of scientist on Earth, rover drivers and mission engineers working to overcome challenges and to transfer the rover to another geologic site from the first on Mars.
In the statement, JPL director was quoted as saying: “I cannot think of a more appropriate place for Opportunity to endure on the surface of Mars than one called Perseverance Valley. The records, discoveries and sheer tenacity of this intrepid little rover is a testament to the ingenuity, dedication, and perseverance of the people who built and guided her.”
Mars exploration by NASA continues unabated. InSight lander of NASA, which has touched down on November 26, is beginning its scientific probe.