After well over 5,000 days (or rather, sols) of active service, the 90-day mission of NASA’s Opportunity rover on Mars has officially come to an end.
Ave aqtue vale, Opportunity. You were a very good robot.
The xkcd cartoon you may be thinking of right now was actually about Spirit, Opportunity’s sister robot. Alas, I guess this one won’t be coming true, either.
I raised a toast to our robotic explorer. Power down and wait it out, little buddy. We’ll get up there for you eventually.
I’ve kept track of the recent attempts to regain contact and knew this was coming. But it still hit me hard.
I was also sad when Cassini ended its mission but that was different because it was still working.
Here is hoping Oppy will be visited in the not to distant future.
Brian
And I see there’s already a new xkcd posted for this bittersweet occasion.
I know we should not anthropomorphize the rover but sometimes it is hard not to.
All alone, 34 million miles away on a cold, inhospitable planet trudging ever so slowly and unendingly and even singing happy birthday to itself once and then giving that up.
For me the nail in that particular, anthropomorphizing coffin, were Opportunity’s last words (so to speak) to NASA:
“My battery is low and it’s getting dark.”
I always liked seeing the pictures from Mars. Will miss you buddy.
I follow sarcastic rover on twitter so I learned of this from him this morning. I feel a sad.
Opportunity no longer knocks.
Talk about exceeding expectations – that’s what I call return on investment. Well done, Team Opportunity, you designed, built and deployed a fine system. All things must pass, on Earth and Mars and the Heavens, but no one can take out this achievement. You take your place in the great chain of explorers.
A fine example of quality engineering.
Makes me wonder how many earthbound engineers were involved in that remarkable mission. I expect it was a cast of thousands over the years. They can be feel very proud that they have achieved so much.
I’ve been a rover junkie since day 1, but I really got into it when Spirit got stuck and quit talking. I followed Opportunity about weekly if not more often after that; never got so into Curiosity for some reason.
So I’m sad. But what a great run!
How long can the rover stay there before all evidence of it’s existence is hidden or gone I wonder?
A plucky little 'bot which more than exceeded expectations, and served the United States and all of humanity very, very well. Rest in peace, Opportunity. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
In a recent pub quiz I asked the question “Which planet is, to the best of our knowledge, entirely populated by robots?”. I guess that population is down to one now.
Two: Curiosity, and the recent InSight lander.
That is a *great *question.
Whoever translated a power check and a measurement of ambient light as “My batteries are low and it is getting dark” is an emotionally manipulative bastard and a better writer than I can ever hope to be.
Godspeed Opportunity.
Oh yeah - forgot about InSight. Ta.
I plan on stealing your excellent pub quiz question, btw. 
The Curiosity rover pays homage: Mars Opportunity rover: Curiosity pays tribute to rover with poem
A 90 day mission that ended up lasting almost 15 years. That’s an amazing feat.
The teams that designed and supported Opportunity can be proud of their achievement.