10th Martian Anniversary For Opportunity

Hey Space Placers!

Today marks the 10th year of operations on the Red Planet for rover Opportunity. Not bad for a vehicle that was expected to last 90 days! Her twin rover Spirit died in 2011 when she became mired in sand and could not receive enough sunlight to survive.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell Univ. / Arizona State Univ.

Oppy as she is called is still going strong in Meridiani Planum returning photographs and data. She was in the news lately because of the "Jelly Donut Rock From Nowhere". This rock is nothing like anything that has been studied before and is really stirring the pot among planetary geologists.

Oppy has found that Mars was once a habitable place for life as we know it to exist on the Red Planet which certainly begs the question if life ever existed on Mars.

Oppy has a bad wheel and some arthritis in her robotic arm but she will continue to add to the more than 25 miles she has driven on Mars. As long as she receives enough sunlight for power she can operate and return pictures and data.

Sky Guy in Frozen VA