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Opportunity Begins 10th Year on Mars

Posted by samzenpus on 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."

9 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Huzzah! by docmordin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's to Opportunity and, hopefully, another ten years!

    1. Re:Huzzah! by eksith · · 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 Barryke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That would be another 9 years, not 10. Opportunity is now starting its 10th year..

      --
      Hivemind harvest in progress..
    3. Re:Huzzah! by eksith · · 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.
    4. Re:Huzzah! by excelsior_gr · · 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.

  2. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by LMariachi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Obligatory xkcd.

  3. Re:Last message from the Opportunity rover by Anonymous Coward · · 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 · · 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. Really hostile environment by Max_W · · 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.