Opportunity Begins 10th Year on Mars

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Opportunity Begins 10th Year on Mars

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 24, 2013 @06:31PM from the sticking-around dept.

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."

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Huzzah! by docmordin · 2013-01-24 18:32 · Score: 5, Insightful

Here's to Opportunity and, hopefully, another ten years!
1. Re:Huzzah! by eksith · 2013-01-24 18:46 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Hear, hear!
  Carry on, Opportunity, your sister will always be with you in Spirit.
  
  --
  If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.
2. Re:Huzzah! by c0lo · 2013-01-24 19:55 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Hear, hear!
  Carry on, Opportunity, your sister will always be with you in Spirit.
  Oblig. FTFY
  
  --
  Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
3. Re:Huzzah! by EngnrFrmrlyKnownAsAC · 2013-01-24 20:05 · Score: 1
  
  Agreed! *clank* To Opportunity and another nine Earth years!
  
  --
  Howdy howdy howdy
4. Re:Huzzah! by Barryke · 2013-01-24 22:55 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  That would be another 9 years, not 10. Opportunity is now starting its 10th year..
  
  --
  Hivemind harvest in progress..
5. Re:Huzzah! by eksith · 2013-01-25 00:17 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I usually go to xkcd to be amused or be provoked into thinking, but this rover existentialism made me a bit sad, actually. I know it's just an inanimate object, but it's hard to stay objective when there's a voice being projecting onto it :/
  
  --
  If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.
6. Re:Huzzah! by Skater · 2013-01-25 00:53 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Maybe this will help, courtesy of Ikea.
7. Re:Huzzah! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 03:13 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I usually go to xkcd to be amused or be provoked into thinking, but this rover existentialism made me a bit sad, actually. I know it's just an inanimate object, but it's hard to stay objective when there's a voice being projecting onto it :/
  My 6 year old daughter and I happened to watch the launch of Curiosity, and while we were waiting I showed her some pictures of Curiosity. She thought it was really cute. We talked about rockets and stuff, and eventually she asked how it got back to earth. When I explained that it wouldn't she got really quiet then started crying. She was very upset by the idea that this little robot would never get to come home.
8. Re:Huzzah! by riverat1 · 2013-01-25 05:53 · Score: 2
  
  Tell her when she grows up she can go on the Mars mission and they can pick Curiosity up and bring it back to put in the museum.
9. Re:Huzzah! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 06:00 · Score: 0
  
  There's always that one guy at the party no one wants to talk to ...
10. Re:Huzzah! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 06:49 · Score: 0
  
  Maybe the OP started counting at 1 instead of 0. The age old programmer argument.
11. Re:Huzzah! by excelsior_gr · 2013-01-25 07:24 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Thank you for sharing this. I will never buy anything from IKEA ever again. It is even more sad to learn that the advertisement was a "popular, critical, and financial success" and boosted IKEA's sales, according to Wikipedia.
  How could a commercial about consumerism resonate with people? Let's all throw away all our stuff for no reason and buy new shit! This is what our IKEA-overlords want us to do! Never mind about the environment, your savings account, or the mere fact that someone may be in need of a lamp and cannot afford it. Not to mention that you can always make a buck by selling the lamp in a used goods store or in a garage sale. And I am sure you can even buy this lamp model brand new marketed as "retro design" or something like that.
  Back on topic, maybe IKEA would suggest that we should trash Opportunity now that Curiosity is up and running. Yes objects are inanimate and have no feelings, but that doesn't mean that we should act as retarded sheep.
12. Re:Huzzah! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 09:30 · Score: 0
  
  You know, as long as we don't nuke ourselves first, I strongly suspect it will end up back here in a museum. One day, perhaps 100+ years from now. But it'll happen. Too bad I likely won't be around to see it.
  Now if they ever retrieve Voyager, that'll be really impressive!
13. Re:Huzzah! by Wolfrider · 2013-01-25 09:53 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  --Watching "Silent Running" when I was in the hospital as a kid did the same thing to me. :-\
  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067756/
  
  --
  .
  == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
14. Re:Huzzah! by eksith · 2013-01-25 11:54 · Score: 1
  
  That didn't help at all! :( Also, I own a lamp that looks almost exactly like that. Now I need to watch more Maru videos.
  
  --
  If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.
15. Re: Huzzah! by Rational · 2013-01-27 21:44 · Score: 1
  
  *Nine* years. /pedant
  
  --
  "Be nice, veer left, and never stop thinking" Iain Banks - Walking On Glass
16. Re:Huzzah! by Skater · 2013-01-29 04:54 · Score: 1
  
  You've never redesigned a website or anything, ever, even though it performs the same functions in the end? Sure, it's electrons instead of physical objects, but there's still a cost to it - the time to do the work, test it, and deploy it. Is that consumerism, too?
  Besides, and only on /. would I be arguing this, but: 1. Perhaps the lamp had a faulty switch or something. Sure, it could be repaired, but if you already aren't happy with the style or the way it throws light, this could be the trigger to get a new lamp entirely. And, 2., where I live, the places who want donations come and pick them up from our porch. How do you know that wasn't the case with the lamp in the commercial?
17. Re:Huzzah! by excelsior_gr · 2013-01-29 06:35 · Score: 1
  
  If the item really is faulty, then you don't have bad feelings when throwing it away. You just discard it like the junk that it is. Same goes for source code: the work is justified when the old version is a pile of spaghetti code that is hard to maintain and expand. When you know that the stuff are going to be picked up, you also don't have bad feelings. Through its tone, the commercial suggests that the item is being treated in a cruel and "unfair" manner, thus implying that it can still fulfill its function. Indeed, the lamp only goes off at the end of the commercial, to show that it has "given up on life". The sentiments, of course, are only those of the human, who projects it on the personified lamp. This is a clear suggestion that the human feels remorse for doing something bad (and knowing it).
Not Bad by bp2179 · 2013-01-24 18:46 · Score: 5, Informative

Not bad at all for something that was planned to last only about 3 months, if it made it past the "beachball" landing.
1. Re:Not Bad by MightyMartian · 2013-01-24 18:56 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Opportunity is definitely one of NASA's great success stories. A wonder of engineering talent (and a heavy dose of good luck).
  I hope by the time humans finally walk on Mars, it's still there so it can be preserved.
  
  --
  The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
2. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 19:09 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  "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...
3. Re:Not Bad by SeaFox · 2013-01-24 20:02 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I hope by the time humans finally walk on Mars, it's still there so it can be preserved.
  I just had a mental image of humans landing on Mars and Opportunity rolling up and waving an arm at them in greeting when they open the hatch to step out. :-3
4. Re:Not Bad by Ihlosi · 2013-01-24 20:46 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I hope by the time humans finally walk on Mars, it's still there so it can be preserved.
  However, the implications of the rover no longer being where it is assumed to be would be ... interesting.
  Might make for a good start of a sci-fi horror movie ... or comedy.
5. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 21:57 · Score: 0
  
  Obviously would never happen, but that would be so awesome. I love those rovers (RIP Spirit).
6. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 22:01 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Yeah. 100 years from now we roll up in our Mars buggy to Opportunity's location, see wheel tracks (I know, erosion, shut up - this is my fantasy) leading up to the exact location where the rover should be, and...no rover.
  Then I can't decide whether it would be cooler/weirder if it was just wheel tracks and no rover or wheel tracks with strange looking "foot" prints leading up to the spot where there was no rover...
7. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 22:58 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I am consistently impressed by this exquisite example of engineering.
  The folks who designed and built these machines must have an incredible sense of achievement. I understand the argument that money could have saved if they were designed for and not in excess of the requirements, but in this age of consumer electronics and epic budget cuts those engineers delivered engineering success.
  I often wonder what the engineering management lessons are to be learnt from the likes of JPL, and how these lessons could transform folks at Boeing and Lockheed (Dreamliner, F22, etc...). Indeed how those lessons could transform humanity.
  An so there it sits: a device for exploration, but so much more a monument to intellectual capacity and success.
8. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 23:22 · Score: 0
  
  Thing is there's wind on mars...
9. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 01:01 · Score: 0
  
  wwwwwwWWWWAAAAAALLLLLLLL EEee
10. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 02:25 · Score: 1
  
  That all depends on what hood it happens to roll up into. On earth there are places like South Central LA where cars roll in and mysteriously disappear.
11. Re:Not Bad by interkin3tic · 2013-01-25 03:20 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  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...
12. Re:Not Bad by Sentrion · 2013-01-25 03:33 · Score: 1
  
  By the time humans arrive, the rover will be much older and wiser. But on the other hand, after decades in isolation, the rover may go "native" and repell any human landing as an invasion of its territory.
13. Re:Not Bad by OakDragon · 2013-01-25 04:06 · Score: 2
  
  That all depends on what hood it happens to roll up into. On earth there are places like South Central LA where cars roll in and mysteriously disappear.
  So maybe we'll find it up on cement blocks, with the tires gone?
  
  --
  Dark Reflection
14. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 04:15 · Score: 0
  
  Yes. Hence this in my original post:
  
  (I know, erosion, shut up - this is my fantasy)
15. Re:Not Bad by nitehawk214 · 2013-01-25 04:16 · Score: 1
  
  That all depends on what hood it happens to roll up into. On earth there are places like South Central LA where cars roll in and mysteriously disappear.
  So that is what happened to Spirit. Someone stole all the wheels.
  
  --
  I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
16. Re:Not Bad by riverat1 · 2013-01-25 05:55 · Score: 1
  
  It got stuck in the sand and they didn't have AAA.
17. Re:Not Bad by dgatwood · 2013-01-25 07:12 · Score: 1
  
  And screeching at them in an annoying robot voice, "Spirit 5 is aliiiiiive."
  
  --
  Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
18. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 07:24 · Score: 0
  
  Nobody expected, yes. Who could expect marsians to shot down European's mission and to keep repairing American's? Now they have spare parts from Spirit...
19. Re:Not Bad by excelsior_gr · 2013-01-25 07:28 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe, while they're at it, they can give Spirit a nudge and get her rolling again.
20. Re:Not Bad by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 08:45 · Score: 0
  
  Ah... Well don't I feel like a fool.
I too once had an older woman for a neighbour... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 18:47 · Score: 1, Funny

...with a wetter, warmer past. I too spent about ten years exploring that before hitting 24 and moving away. Way to go opportunity!
Not even 5 years by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 18:57 · Score: 5, Interesting

Martian year is 1.88 Earth years, so it hasn't even run for 5 years on Mars.
1. Re:Not even 5 years by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 00:14 · Score: 0
  
  Isn't it 5.139 years so far?
2. Re:Not even 5 years by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 00:35 · Score: 0
  
  Only if you're a time traveling martian from 243 days in the future.
3. Re:Not even 5 years by rwise2112 · 2013-01-25 05:20 · Score: 1
  
  But how many Rover years is that?
  
  --
  
  "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
4. Re:Not even 5 years by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 21:33 · Score: 0
  
  (9 human_earth years)*(7 dog_earth years / 1 human_earth year)*(1 mars_rover year/1.88 dog_earth years) = 33.5 rover_mars years
government unable to keep up with the times... by schallee · 2013-01-24 19:02 · Score: 1

This is just another classic example of how the federal government is unable to keep systems up to date. Any org that cared would've at least had someone add a few more dimms or...wait...
Last message from the Opportunity rover by Grayhand · 2013-01-24 19:02 · Score: 5, Funny

"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!"
1. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by LMariachi · 2013-01-24 19:07 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Obligatory xkcd.
2. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by Grayhand · 2013-01-24 19:46 · Score: 0
  
  Sorry, never read it. I have a life.
3. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 20:00 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Must be a sad life if it doesn't even allow for joys as small as XKCD.
4. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by wonkey_monkey · 2013-01-24 20:19 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  So you've got time to come to Slashdot and write a hundred words of Mars Rover internal monologue, but you're too awesome to read a webcomic?
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
5. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 21:33 · Score: 0
  
  Sorry, never read it. I have a life...
  ...on World of Warcraft.
6. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by muecksteiner · 2013-01-24 21:56 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, never read it. I have a life.
  Maybe. But if that really is the case, you arguably don't belong here in the first place. :-)
7. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by BetterThanCaesar · 2013-01-25 00:22 · Score: 1
  
  Nine years. It's been nine years.
  
  --
  "Stop failing the Turing test!" -- Dilbert
8. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 00:50 · Score: 0
  
  herpderp.
  Can jot down worthless comments on /. but can't read a webcomic? Your priorities are screwed, man.
9. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by Clueless+Moron · 2013-01-25 01:52 · Score: 1
  
  I bet you don't own a TV either
10. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 05:26 · Score: 0
  
  I have a life.
  Citation needed.
martian gag by Libertarian001 · 2013-01-24 19:10 · Score: 1

What was the running gag here, about the Martian overlord extolling his people to withstand the invasion and what not?
1. Re:martian gag by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-24 22:45 · Score: 0
  
  K'Breel, Speaker for the Council of Elders seethed in his restochamber.
  "How hard can this possibly be? Is it too much to ask that one of you snizwiks manage to destroy this mechanized invader from the blue planet? Here we are almost 5 yeernaks later and IT IS STILL THERE."
  Witnesses later recount K'Breel then stormed out of his restochamber, immediately punctured the gelsacs of every junior commander he could find, grabbed his snizrifle, hopped in his hovspeeder and headed off in the general direction of the mechanized invader from the thrid planet.
And yet... by matunos · 2013-01-24 21:32 · Score: 5, Funny

Still no sign of oil. What a f*ckin waste!
1. Re:And yet... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-26 00:33 · Score: 0
  
  Oil? They would need to find dinosaur bones before they could ever hope to find oil.
Really hostile environment by Max_W · 2013-01-25 00:26 · Score: 5, Insightful

It is easier to send a robot to Mars than to, say, a local supermarket. It would probably not last in a supermarket for a week.

The really hostile environment for robots is the human social environment.

It is clear how to protect against radiation or low temperatures, but how to protect against coffee into circuits or lipstick on lenses? Or just plain simple kicks from behind.

These are complicated and important problems because robots could be very useful on Earth too right now.
1. Re:Really hostile environment by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 02:51 · Score: 0
  
  No disassemble Johnny number 5.
2. Re:Really hostile environment by Zeromous · 2013-01-25 02:55 · Score: 2
  
  This has been fully explored in Short Circuit, and Short Circuit 2.
  You basically just need Fisher Stevens and you can get along fine anywhere (well, maybe with a little mayhem).
  
  --
  ---Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A START
3. Re:Really hostile environment by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 07:30 · Score: 0
  
  You basically just need Fisher Stevens and you can get along fine anywhere (well, maybe with a little mayhem).
  Fisher Stevens? I want my mayhem with Ally Sheedy. That would be fine anywhere.
Ten years is enough! Let's bring Opportunity home. by TheRealHocusLocus · 2013-01-25 00:26 · Score: 4, Funny

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 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.

--
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
Grammar? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 00:41 · Score: 0

"celebrating a big milestone Thursday"
or
"celebrating a big milestone [on] Thursday"
Arrgh!
1. Re:Grammar? by wonkey_monkey · 2013-01-25 00:52 · Score: 1
  
  It's "milestone Thursday." Like "jello Tuesday."
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Honest question by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 02:07 · Score: 0

I have zero idea about how this things work sorry. I was wondering how can they last so long, what do they use for fuel? are they full solar powered?
1. Re:Honest question by Tarlus · 2013-01-25 03:09 · Score: 2
  
  Yes, solar panels and rechargeable batteries. They can go into a low-power dormancy mode when dust storms threaten to block the sun for extended periods of time, and when dust starts to cake on the solar panels it can be a problem. High speed winds (aka "cleaning events") can sometimes clear this dust, which is part if how Opportunity has remained functional for as long as it has.
  
  --
  /* No Comment */
Solar Power by angel'o'sphere · 2013-01-25 03:28 · Score: 1

I always thought solar power would not cut it ...
Should the panles not be degraded beyond oblivion and covert with dust ...
Ah, well solar works well on Mars but not on Earth, I forgot about that.

--
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Crap, nine years? by jfengel · 2013-01-25 04:18 · Score: 2

If you'd asked me, I would have said maybe five years. It's been nine?
Massive kudos to the entire Opportunity team. It's been awesome. But damn, now I feel old.
25 year exploration plan in place by peter303 · 2013-01-25 04:26 · Score: 1

Curiosity, although rated for only two earth years, could last decade. And NASA has the approval to send another version of Curiosity to Mars in 6-8 years. It would use the same infrastructure to cut costs. But it would have a a more modern set of instruments.
Good news for people as well by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-25 08:47 · Score: 0

If a small little rover like opportunity can keep going for so long the conditions must not be too bad on Mars. Maybe the day that people live on another planet is sooner than most people think.
Re:Ten years is enough! Let's bring Opportunity ho by Daniel+Dvorkin · 2013-01-25 19:25 · Score: 1

[slow clap]

--
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.