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Opportunity, Mars

Opportunity’s last images give a glimpse of the Sun through a June 2018 dust storm.
Opportunity’s last images give a glimpse of the Sun through a June 2018 dust storm. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU

Talk about ominous. While Cassini’s final image covers a luminous swath of Saturn’s surface, the last view from NASA’s Opportunity rover was just a flicker of light through a dark Martian sky. Indeed, Opportunity’s watch ended with an intense dust storm in 2018, 14 years into the rover’s tenure on the Red Planet. Not much can be made out in the two images other than a slightly brighter spot in both. That’s the Sun, nearly blocked out by the planet-wide dust storm that sealed Oppy’s fate.

This image, taken by the Opportunity rover on March 31, 2016, shows a Martian dust devil in Marathon Valley.
This image, taken by the Opportunity rover on March 31, 2016, shows a Martian dust devil in Marathon Valley. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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