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It'due south common for NASA'due south meticulous applied science to yield above average results. Almost infinite missions are active much longer than the original mission parameters require. It'south not uncommon for probes and rovers to last years longer than expected, just the Opportunity rover is in a completely different league. This plucky fiddling robot has just spent is v,000th Martian day on the red planet, or merely over 14 years on World. It was only supposed to last 90 Martian days.

Opportunity is one of only two operational rovers on Mars right now. The other is the much newer and more advanced Curiosity, which itself has long outlived its original mission lifetime. Opportunity launched in 2003 atop a Delta II rocket just a few weeks subsequently the identical Spirit rover. NASA expected both Spirit and Opportunity would ninety Sol (a Martian twenty-four hours, which is only a piddling longer than an Globe day) because their solar panels would not provide enough power to get them through their first Martian wintertime.

Solar ability is the most common source of power for infinite missions, just it'south less effective as you lot get farther from the sun. The long dark Martian winters are as well twice equally long as they are on World. Yet, both rovers managed to make information technology through several winters. However, NASA realized it could orient the rovers to point their solar panels northward to capture more sunlight than expected during the wintertime. This allowed the 90 Sol mission to stretch into multiple years.

Opportunity Rover Progress Mars

Spirit eventually became stuck in sand in 2009 and was unable to tilt its solar panels toward the sun to recharge. Opportunity has avoided any such pitfalls (despite a sand-related scare in 2005), and has now survived its eighth Martian wintertime. Marvel sidestepped this event entirely with the use of a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), so it could conceivably last longer if its wheels don't autumn apart.

During its extended mission, the go-kart-sized rover has covered 28 miles (45 km) and contributed to some major discoveries virtually the planet. Opportunity discovered the first e'er meteorite on Mars and provided some of the all-time early on information on the presence of h2o on the planet. Currently, Opportunity is trundling along the edge of Endeavor Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars' southern hemisphere. NASA volition continue using Opportunity to conduct research on Mars until it stops working. Even if that happened tomorrow, Opportunity has already been an overwhelming success. It'southward lasted near 55 times longer than expected on another planet.