Mars Opportunity Rover Declared Dead

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Last night NASA sent it's final planned signals to the Mars Opportunity Rover. The rover has been silent since 10^th June 2018, when Mars became engulfed in a global dust storm.

NASA has called a press conference on the rover's status for 2pm EST today (13^th February 2019) where it is widely expected that they will announce that official end of Opportunity's mission.

[Eldorado]

"It has operated 5351 sols since landing, having exceeded its operating plan by 14 years, 293 days (in Earth time). Opportunity has operated for over 55 times its designed lifespan."  Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_(rover)

A class act were the team who built that.

[stevewinn]

oh well it lasted 14 years.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

It's official:

Quote

NASA's Record-Setting Opportunity Rover Mission on Mars Comes to End

One of the most successful and enduring feats of interplanetary exploration, NASA's Opportunity rover mission is at an end after almost 15 years exploring the surface of Mars and helping lay the groundwork for NASA’s return to the Red Planet.

The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made their last attempt to revive Opportunity Tuesday, to no avail. The solar-powered rover's final communication was received June 10.

  Read More: NASA

 

[Inn Spectre]

4 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

 The rover has been silent since 10^th June 2018, when Mars became engulfed in a global dust storm.

That dust is bound to get blown away sometime.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

2 minutes ago, Inn Spectre said:

That dust is bound to get blown away sometime.

You are making the massive assumption that the only thing wrong with the rover is that it's solar panels are covered in dust. That is an assumption with no evidence to back it up.

Opportunity has failed to respond to more than a thousand attempts to communicate with it over 8 months. How long do you think NASA should continue to use valuable resource trying to communicate with a rover which is almost certainly dead? Another year? Another five years? Another hundred years?

There is a saying, often attributed to Einstein: "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." 

[Myles]

15 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

You are making the massive assumption that the only thing wrong with the rover is that it's solar panels are covered in dust. That is an assumption with no evidence to back it up.

Opportunity has failed to respond to more than a thousand attempts to communicate with it over 8 months. How long do you think NASA should continue to use valuable resource trying to communicate with a rover which is almost certainly dead? Another year? Another five years? Another hundred years?

There is a saying, often attributed to Einstein: "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." 

All true, but we can hope.  

 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

18 minutes ago, Myles said:

All true, but we can hope.  

 

No we can't. The mission has ended, NASA will not be attempting to communicate with Opportunity again.

[InconceivableThoughts]

1 minute ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

No we can't. The mission has ended, NASA will not be attempting to communicate with Opportunity again.

All true , but we can dream

[Waspie_Dwarf]

10 minutes ago, InconceivableThoughts said:

All true , but we can dream

Dream all you like, it won't resurrect Opportunity from the dead.

[AllPossible]

I wonder if Curiosity will ever see that rover. Be interesting for them to link up. I'm wondering how far apart they are, I'm sure they have gps and NASA knows there positions.

[AllPossible]

2 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

No we can't. The mission has ended, NASA will not be attempting to communicate with Opportunity again.

My question is how difficult is it for them to try it again once in awhile? If you said they've tried to communicate with it 1000x in 8 months, why not attempt it again. Maybe Curiosity can find Opportunity & give her a nudge lol. 

[RoofGardener]

GPS doesn't work on Mars, but I would imagine that - in principle - it WOULD be possible to navigate Curiosity over to Opportunity... IF it is in range ? Remember, Mars is a BIG place ! 

[toast]

*snip*

Edited February 14, 2019 by toast

[toast]

1 hour ago, AllPossible said:

I wonder if Curiosity will ever see that rover. Be interesting for them to link up. I'm wondering how far apart they are, I'm sure they have gps and NASA knows there positions.

The rovers are more than 5000 miles apart.

[InconceivableThoughts]

12 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

Dream all you like, it won't resurrect Opportunity from the dead.

Im sure many many years from now we will find the rover repair it and put it in a museum.

[AllPossible]

9 hours ago, toast said:

The rovers are more than 5000 miles apart.

Ok cool, Thanks for info!!! How many miles did the Opportunity travel? Never really thought about the distance between them

Edited February 15, 2019 by AllPossible

[Gary Meadows]

22 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

Dream all you like, it won't resurrect Opportunity from the dead.

You are just the worst. 

 

That is all.

[Jodie.Lynne]

I don't know about anyone else, but this made me cry. I know that I anthropomorphizing the rover, but it almost sounded like Opportunity was a living being. 

[Inn Spectre]

On 2/13/2019 at 8:50 PM, Waspie_Dwarf said:

You are making the massive assumption that the only thing wrong with the rover is that it's solar panels are covered in dust. That is an assumption with no evidence to back it up.

 

Well if NASA have been trying to contact it, they must be making the same assumption. When dealing with a remote object, one has little choice.

 

On 2/13/2019 at 8:50 PM, Waspie_Dwarf said:

How long do you think NASA should continue to use valuable resource trying to communicate with a rover which is almost certainly dead?

That's a matter for their judgement, but given the possibility that it could easily become uncovered again and its only problem is discharged batteries, I'm sure they'll consider trying periodically.

 

On 2/13/2019 at 8:50 PM, Waspie_Dwarf said:

There is a saying, often attributed to Einstein: "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." 

That saying requires a qualifier: "under exactly the same conditions". Given that the conditions could well change, it is not insanity to make further attempts.

 

 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Inn Spectre