Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

On Wednesday, after nearly eight months of no contact from Opportunity, NASA declared the rover dead.  It was only built to work for three months, but 15 years later was still showing us new things about the Red Planet. 

WHAT HAPPENED

NASA lost contact with the rover in June 2018, when a wicked dust storm enveloped the entire planet.  Opportunity is powered by solar panels, so when the dust blocked out the sun, the rover lost power. More than 1,000 commands were sent to Opportunity after the storm cleared, hoping to revive it, but to no avail. 

In 2004 Opportunity and Spirit (its twin) landed on opposite sides of Mars, and were meant to study the planet for 90 sols (Martian days). Spirit died about eight years ago while Opportunity continued to operate longer than any other lander in history. As a pair they were credited with discovering water had once flowed on Mars, meaning the planet could have sustained life. There are still two active U.S. landers on Mars.