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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."
Here's to Opportunity and, hopefully, another ten years!
Not bad at all for something that was planned to last only about 3 months, if it made it past the "beachball" landing.
Martian year is 1.88 Earth years, so it hasn't even run for 5 years on Mars.
"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!"
Still no sign of oil. What a f*ckin waste!
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.
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>
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.
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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.