No matter how handy we are, we eventually have to realize that nothing lasts forever. There are only so many times we can keep fixing something before we have to finally accept that it's broken beyond repair.
No matter how handy we are, we eventually have to realize that nothing lasts forever. There are only so many times we can keep fixing something before we have to finally accept that it's broken beyond repair.
Since the whole point of, say, a Mars rover is to do a job that's too difficult to logistically expect from humans, it's just going to have to stay dormant there.
Sadly, it seems that fate has befallen the Opportunity rover today.
According to the New York Times, they struggled to re-establish contact for months before finally declaring the Opportunity mission over on Wednesday.
After all, it was far from the first dust storm Opportunity had weathered in its 14 years of service. One in 2014 covered the rover in red dust, but all that dust had cleared within about two months.
However, the dust that finally choked it with enough dirt to knock it out of contact was powerful enough to block out the sun for days on the red planet.
The New York Times reported that it survived 5,111 Martian days and drove a record-breaking 28 miles on the planet's surface.
Opportunity was hard at work exploring Perseverance Valley right up until the end, judging by the last images NASA received from the rover.
Rick Wilson really did it up with this one.
Five months after Opportunity went down, NASA's InSight lander touched down on Mars. This one won't go anywhere, but rather probe down into the planet's inner structure.
h/t: The New York Times