The last moments of this rover sent to Mars are getting people all teary-eyed
Nasa is finally pulling the plug on the Opportunity rover it sent to Mars in 2004, ending a mission which was initially expected to last only 90 days and ended up enduring nearly 15 years.
And there was something about the record-breaking little robot’s final days, more than 30 million miles from home, that got us all, well, a little bit misty-eyed.
Here’s how it was brilliantly described by @JacobMargolis.
1.
Sad news. Mars rover #Opportunity is probably done. Sometime tonight, a team @NASAJPL will make their final attempt to contact #Oppy. If they can't, they'll likely call the mission. Here's what happened… 1/ pic.twitter.com/oLgATexUHN
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
2.
She was bouncing along, doing well, until a massive dust storm engulfed all of Mars in June 2018, knocking out communications with the team on earth. They haven’t heard from her since. It’s unclear exactly what happened… 2/ pic.twitter.com/vv9YcwrpkC
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
3.
The last message they received was basically, “My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” They hoped that the windy season would clear dust off the solar panels (if that was the problem). Since then they’ve been pinging her again and again, every way they knew… 3/
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
4.
As far as I can tell, this is the last image #Opportunity took. From Sol 5111. 4/ pic.twitter.com/6WmOPPhehi
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
5.
Winter is coming. The windy season, which runs from November – January has come to an end. Bad news for Oppy. It’ll be dark and temps could reach -100C. One key way she stays warm is by moving around. 5/
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
6.
If components haven’t broken already, the extreme cold will likely serve the final blow, per John Callas at JPL. If the solar panels do start to sip energy from the sun and feed it to the battery… 6/
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
7.
Oppy’s emergency heaters will kick in and it’ll spend that energy warming its little robot heart, which contains its most important components. It probably won’t be enough, going in to winter, to move around and survive. 7/
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
8.
If you’re holding out hope, just know, people have been getting hired away from the team since last June as tasks dried up. NASA admins will announce the final decision tomorrow at 11AM PST, but it’s not looking good. That said… 8/
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
9.
The world should feel great about the life of Oppy. Supposed to only survive for 90 days, she thrived for 15+ years! Drove over 28 miles! ON MARS!!! 9/
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
10.
She, along with Spirit, helped us confirm that different types of water once sat/flowed on the surface of Mars, and that the environments could’ve been hospitable to life. 10/
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
11.
So, cheers to Opportunity, Spirit and the entire team around the world that, since 2000, have furthered our understanding of the red planet and of the possibility of life existing elsewhere. 11/11 pic.twitter.com/KS7INP09XY
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
It wasn’t just us that got all misty-eyed (and thank goodness for that).
An amazing thread — and sad.
The Mars rover's last words were basically:
"My battery is low and it's getting dark."
I mean…those are some real last words!
I could even use them myself.
A lot.Handy dandy sentiment for 2019, I suppose. https://t.co/lHrKEaDjan
— Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755) February 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/NativeApprops/status/1095510196305256450
That is so sad.
— Salvador Deli (@Sob1408) February 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/stephenpaton134/status/1095605760824889344
A robot is dying and I’m upset because I was raised by Pixar. https://t.co/XuOV8LEg8T
— Jessica Ellis (@baddestmamajama) February 13, 2019
"My battery is low and it’s getting dark.”
Whoops, TEARY-EYED ABOUT SPACE ROBOTS AGAIN https://t.co/2YCkABKLPS
— Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) February 13, 2019
Fortunately this person was around to put a smile back on our face.
Someone gave it a happier ending 🙂 pic.twitter.com/QskUPzF9tu
— Gleñ Matthews 🏳️🌈 🍑 (@GlenMaffews) February 13, 2019
This version is much better on the “tearing up over amazing science” front.
Cheers.— St. Traventine’s Day (@Markoff_Cheney) February 13, 2019
It’s a Pixar movie in 12 panels. And still made me cry.
— Salvador Deli (@Sob1408) February 13, 2019
Thank you for your service Oppy pic.twitter.com/vv3vKrxHCW
— Rufus (@DTWT_Rufus) February 13, 2019
And here’s what the official Twitter feed of Opportunity (and fellow rover Spirit) had to say.
#OppyPhoneHome Update
Tonight, we’ll make our last planned attempts to contact Opportunity. The solar-powered rover last communicated on June 10, 2018, as a planet-wide dust storm swept across Mars.
Want to show the team some love? Send a postcard: https://t.co/eO2SClFcYm pic.twitter.com/trDjRNf65E
— Spirit and Oppy (@MarsRovers) February 12, 2019
You’ll have to excuse us, we have a little space dust in our eye.
