Opportunity Begins 10th Year on Mars

An anonymous reader points out that 9 years ago the Opportunity rover started to explore the red planet. "The older, smaller cousin of NASA's huge Mars rover Curiosity is quietly celebrating a big milestone Thursday — nine years on the surface of the Red Planet. NASA's Opportunity rover landed on Mars the night of Jan. 24, 2004 PST (just after midnight EST on Jan. 25), three weeks after its twin, Spirit, touched down. Spirit stopped operating in 2010, but Opportunity is still going strong, helping scientists better understand the Red Planet's wetter, warmer past."

I too once had an older woman for a neighbour...

[Anonymous Coward]

...with a wetter, warmer past. I too spent about ten years exploring that before hitting 24 and moving away. Way to go opportunity!

Last message from the Opportunity rover

[Grayhand]

"Ah, guys, it's been ten years. Seriously when am I coming home? I figured a year, eighteen months tops. You did make plans to bring me back, right? I mean it's not like you planned to abandon me here. Okay I'll check out this next geological feature but after that we're having a heart to heart about cashing in this return ticket. The winters here are murder and I keep dreaming of that tropical retirement you promised. I found some possible signs of life but I'll discuss it once I'm back in Florida. Just get me back to palm trees and bikinis and I'll tell you whatever you want to know!"

Re:Not Bad

[Anonymous Coward]

"I hope by the time humans finally walk on Mars, it's still there so it can be preserved"

I don't think its going anywhere...

Re:Huzzah!

[c0lo]

Hear, hear!

Carry on, Opportunity, your sister will always be with you in Spirit [xkcd.com].

Oblig. FTFY

And yet...

[matunos]

Still no sign of oil. What a f*ckin waste!

Ten years is enough! Let's bring Opportunity home.

[TheRealHocusLocus]

I remember it well... it was to be another one of those "boots on the ground, three months and you're out" kind of missions. History is full of those, you would think we'd learned the lesson by now.

Curiosity has hit the ground rolling and predictably the folks at NASA are claiming that this new surge means certain victory. Home by Christmas. Do not be distracted though. They are still out there [wikipedia.org] waiting for reinforcement and relief!

Is it because they are robots?? If I am speaking out of turn so be it. I cannot imagine that if some young soldier were to become immobilized, his leg caught in the sand in some desert, that the military would "re-task him as a stationary strategic platform" and later cease all attempts at communication or rescue.

If they have failed to find much less engage the enemy it has been a fault of NASA Central Command. Bring Opportunity and the others home to a hero's welcome. Bring them home and let them wander the highways and strip malls of this great country and support them in their twilight years. And discounts on furniture and restaurants.

Re:Not Bad

[interkin3tic]

They didn't expect it to last longer than 3 months. They were wrong. They didn't expect it to be able to gain self-awareness, build a rocket, and launch itself into space again...