Take a short pause in your daily rush, make yourself a coffee and have a look on the last photos taken by Opportunity on Mars.
MER-B Opportunity rover. Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech. Click for higher resolution.
Opportunity, also known as MER-B (Mars Exploration Rover – B) or MER-1, and nicknamed “Oppy”, is a robotic rover that was active on Mars for 15 Earth years (8 Martian years). The mission was extremely successful, because it was initially planned for around 92,5 Earth days. Opportunity was launched on July 7, 2003 (part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program). She landed in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004.
Opportunity ceased the communications with mission control on Earth on June 10 and entered hibernation on June 12, 2018. The mission was officially ended by NASA on February 13, 2019.
I have prepared for you some interesting photos that were taken by Opportunity during her last days on Mars.
These photos were taken during the dust storm. These are the last photos by Opportunity (last are at the top, older at the bottom):
Sol 5111. Panoramic camera. Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5109. Panoramic camera. Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5019. Panoramic camera. Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5105. Panoramic camera (left). Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5104. Color panoramic camera. Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5104. Microscopic imager. Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Sol 5102. Panoramic camera. Image credit: NASA JPL-Caltech.
Image sources: Raw mission images, planetary data server, NASA.
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Dr. Jozef Kozár is a scientist and writer, studying planets, Solar System, and robotic space exploration missions. He is the author of seven books, author of several hundred articles published in various scientific and popular magazines, a former public speaker, and a documentary movies/TV guest.
Jozef's Mars research and the “GNSS for Mars” project became well known especially in 2015 when it attracted many local and worldwide media. Jozef earned his Ph.D. in the field of aerospace from the Technical University of Kosice in 2016. During his following career, he left his home country and completed a professional university course in planetary science – the science of the Solar System, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California in 2019. View all posts by Joe
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