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The End of Opportunity Mars Rover

3/2/2019

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After getting caught in a dust storm, NASA's Opportunity mars rover officially died. It's solar panels got covered in dust and were no longer able to produce energy. It's last communication occurred June 10, 2018 and the last attempt to reach the rover occurred on February 13, 2019, to not avail. NASA declared it was going to stop attempt to reach the rover after the final attempt.  

Opportunity was launched with its twin rover, Spirit, in 2003, as a part of a mission to search Mars for past life. Opportunity was only planned to survive for 90 days and exceeded this expectation by about 14 years! Spirit was also only planned to survive for 90 days and outlived the estimate by about 7 years, with the mission ending on May 25, 2011. Spirit got stuck in soft soil, and was never able to escape.

Both of these rovers gave us extremely useful information about mars, such as the fact that Mars was once far wetter than it is today. 

The general public has grown quite emotional about the termination of Opportunity's mission, and have called for missions to revive it. Some say that builders should send the next rover with additional batteries to bring new life to the classic Mars rover.

What do you think about the attempts to revive Opportunity? How do you feel about Opportunities mission coming to an end?
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