News Archive / Tagged: Mars Exploration Rovers

• What did Opportunity’s ‘last words’ actually mean?

  Jason RhianFebruary 17th, 2019

  "My battery is low and it's getting dark." This supposedly was the last message sent back to mission controllers on Earth by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. But is this actually what she "said?"

• NASA trying to reestablish contact with Opportunity rover

  Jason RhianJanuary 29th, 2019

  Engineers are sending new commands to Mars rover Opportunity, addressing "low-likelihood" scenarios that could be preventing the vehicle from communicating.

• Inside Opportunity: Oppy still silent as dust storm begins to settle

  James RiceSeptember 1st, 2018

  It has been a long 80 days. We last heard from our rover on the slopes of Perseverance Valley back on June 10. However, we are continuing to listen diligently every day during our programmed fault communication windows, as well as through the Deep Space Network Radio Science Receiver. So far however - nothing.

• NASA’s Opportunity rover goes silent as massive dust storm engulfs Mars

  Derek RichardsonJune 13th, 2018

  NASA’s long-lived Opportunity rover is currently weathering a massive dust storm—the largest the solar-powered rover has had to endure in its nearly 15 years of surface operations. The vehicle has been operating in Meridiani Planum since January 2004.

• NASA’s Opportunity rover still finding surprises on Mars

  Jim SharkeyFebruary 19th, 2018

  NASA's Opportunity Mars rover continues to make surprising discoveries during its fourteenth year exploring the red Planet. Most recently, the rover has observed evidence of possible "rock strips." In recent images from the rover, the texture of the ground looks like a smudged version of distinctive stone strips on some mountain slopes on Earth that are the result of reoccurring cycles of freezing and thawing of wet soil.  

• NASA has the angle on Opportunity’s longevity

  Curt GodwinDecember 8th, 2017

  Operating long past its original mission of 90 Martian solar days – also known as "sols" – NASA's Opportunity rover has survived another passage through the deepest part of the Martian winter. Drawing on years of experience, operators positioned the stalwart robot on a northward-facing incline to give Opportunity's solar panels the best chance of generating enough electricity to survive the Martian winter.

• Mars Curiosity rover pauses to check for dust in its eye

  Bart LeahyJanuary 13th, 2017

  NASA's "Curiosity" rover – a.k.a. Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission – delayed its travels because a robotic arm fault prevented the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) from putting the dust cover over its lens overnight. Curiosity's science team put any further roving and science for Sol 1576 on hold pending resolution of the fault.