NASA has had quite a bit on its plate recently between its Hubble Space Telescope entering safe mode, the prolonged silence from its Opportunity rover, and a technical issue with its Curiosity rover on Mars. But one bright spot appears to be the return of some science operations by Curiosity following a memory anomaly…
It’s been 107 agonizing days since NASA last heard from Opportunity, raising fears that the 14-year-old rover has finally expired after being battered by a massive dust storm. The Martian probe may be quiet, but a new photo taken of Opportunity from space is providing some much-needed solace.
As the planet-wide Martian dust storm clears, NASA scientists have increased their efforts to contact the nearly 15-year-old Opportunity rover, which has been silent since June 10.
Good news, everyone! The planet-encircling dust storm on Mars is beginning to wane, which means NASA’s solar-powered Opportunity rover, currently in hibernation mode, will soon be able to wake up—assuming the storm hasn’t irreparably damaged it.
A massive dust storm on Mars has forced NASA to temporarily suspend operations of its Opportunity rover.
NASA’s Opportunity rover just attempted to take on the steepest hill a Martian rover has ever climbed—and promptly got stuck there. Oh dear.
Mars InSight lander was set to blast its way towards the red planet just three short months from now. Today, NASA announced that leaks that had sprung up in the lander wouldn’t be fixed in time. The next window to send it back won’t be for two years—and whether it will make it then isn’t yet certain.
The first Martian marathon was no easy trek: the Opportunity rover had to struggle through smooth, soft sand and clamber over sharp rocks. This is the sounds of the terrain it covered in its 11-year journey exploring the red planet.
This shot shows the Opportunity rover in shadow on Mars, facing Endurance Crater. It was taken in 2004, the year Opportunity began exploring; since then, it's completed the equivalent of a marathon across Martian terrain, discovering evidence of ancient water, and snapping memorable images galore.
Back in 2010, XKCD's Randall Munroe devoted a surprisingly moving webcomic to Spirit, NASA's ill-fated and ultimately abandoned Mars rover. Today's comic is about Spirit's twin, the apparently indomitable Opportunity, and its tone is markedly less sentimental.
The Mars Exploration Rover, better known as Opportunity, has been beaming back images and data from our planetary neighbour since 2004. As as of today, it has travelled 26.219, making it the first little interplanetary explorer to complete a marathon.
Using photos taken from Mars by the Opportunity Rover, NASA has recreated the sunset the rover sees from the red planet. Hit play and be mesmerized.
Eleven years ago today—in fact, at this very minute (12:05 am ET)—NASA's Opportunity rover touched down on Mars for what was supposed to be a 90-day mission. Since then, Opportunity has proven to be an engineering marvel by traveling almost 26 miles on the Martian surface, more than any other off-Earth surface vehicle.
NASA has had some truly bad luck lately, underscored by the cancellation of an ambitious balloon mission due to a leak last week. Even Opportunity, the decade-old Mars rover that has surprised everyone by exploring for more than a decade after its mission ended, is showing signs of slowing down. Now, NASA has a plan…
NASA plans to extend seven of its ongoing planetary missions, a review panel announced yesterday. Two of the missions, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars rover Opportunity, were at risk of being shut down, but it was Mars rover Curiosity that drew the least-favorable reviews, and the harshest criticisms.
The Opportunity rover has been diagnosed with a case of "amnesia", after more than a dozen lapses in its flash memory storage. To attempt to solve the problem, NASA's engineers say they will clear out the robot's memory and reformat, trying to avoid any worn out storage areas.
Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity have rolled their way into a special place in our hearts, as the first of our rovers to kick-off our exploration of other planets. But this six-limbed, flying rover with the ability to break apart into two separate robots definitely has us intrigued.
For an entire Martian year (or in Earth-time, July 16, 2006 - June 8, 2008), Opportunity snapped a picture of the sun's position in the sky every third day at 11:02 a.m. The result? This tracing of the teardrop-shaped path the sun follows in Mars' sky.
Check out this outstanding photo of NASA's intrepid Opportunity rover. The Agency's HiRISE camera caught a rare glimpse of the spacecraft on Valentine's day while orbiting high above the "Murray Ridge" section of the western rim of Mars' Endeavour Crater. Can you spot it?
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