The Monitor Daily

Thursday, March 4, 2021
Log in

As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions on purchases from other retail websites.

  • Home
  • Politics & National News
  • Business News
  • Tech & Science
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • About us
    • Contact US
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use
  • Latest News
    • Stormy Planet
    • US Surgeon Performs Face Transplant
    • 2017 MTV VMAs Nominations Are In And Voting Is Now Open
    • Bright House: Free McAfee AntiVirus and Adult Controls
    • Antarctic Yeti Crab Gets Formal Scientific Name
    • Spiders Take Over Australian Town
    • Interesting Facts About the Apollo 11 Mission
    • Social Smoking or The New Landmark of Elegance Among Young Women
    • Rare Weasel Returns To Washington State

Pages

  • About The Monitor Daily
  • Contact US
  • Our Team
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • NYC Man Snaps Photo of the Victim After Sucker-Punching Him in Broad Daylight Jun 29, 2018
  • California Woman Performs Home Abortion By Asking Boyfriend to Kick Her in The Belly Jun 28, 2018
  • Nashville Man Arrested After Throwing Cocaine in Police Officer’s Face Jun 28, 2018
  • Brittany Pilkington Wants Psych Eval Before Sentencing Jun 27, 2018
  • Fayetteville Mom Behind Bars For Feeding Children Lighter Fluid Jun 27, 2018
  • Missouri Police Arrested Angry Customer Who Vandalized Nail Salon Jun 26, 2018
  • Queensland Mother Mutilated After Non-Invasive Eye Procedure Goes Sideways Jun 25, 2018

Oldie but Goldie Opportunity Rover Celebrated 12 Years on Mars

Jan 28, 2016 By Robert Moore Leave a Comment

Opportunity rover

Oldie but goldie Opportunity rover celebrated 12 years on Mars last Sunday. Having hit the Martian world on January 24th 12 years ago just after twin sibling Spirit rover, Opportunity rover marked a new era in exploring Mars.

The Monitor Daily (U.S.) – Oldie but goldie Opportunity rover celebrated 12 years on Mars last Sunday. Having hit the Martian world on January 24th 12 years ago just after twin sibling Spirit rover, Opportunity rover marked a new era in exploring Mars.

The technology featured with Opportunity rover may be somewhat antiquated. Nonetheless, the rover is still holding strong, setting even a new record. The main task of Opportunity rover and Spirit rover was to find traces of water activity on the red planet. Starting from different landing points, the two rovers didn’t disappoint. However, in 2010, Spirit rover fell silent. One year afterwards, it was officially declared dead. Both Spirit rover and Opportunity rover did much better than anyone expected.

Their initial mandate was for 90 days. In a surprising display of resources, both rovers outlasted the wildest expectations. Oldie but goldie Opportunity rover celebrated 12 years on Mars. Despite some technical problems, there is no evidence that its mission will come to an end any time soon.

The southern winter solstice took place on January 2nd. Until this point, Opportunity rover transited the harsh winter months on the red planet in impeccable state. The team back home expected that powered to a minimum, the rover would fall silent for a while. Yet, Opportunity surprised everyone once more, working its way through. Winter months are particularly harsh as sunlight barely hits the solar panels of the rover.

In addition, the dust devils and Mars winds have done nothing less than clear the dirt off the solar-powered rover. A welcomed cleaning event, albeit unplanned, allowed Opportunity rover to continue its mission unhindered. John Callas with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory stated:

“Opportunity has stayed very active this winter, in part because the solar arrays have been much cleaner than in the past few winters”.

Not only did the Mars rover stay active, but it also recently performed a carving into the crust of a rock known as Private John Potts. The rock abrasion tool pierced into the Private John Potts rock to collect some more samples.

The Mars rover has proved to be a challenge at times for the team back home. Constant repositioning is required for Opportunity rover to continue harnessing solar power to drive it forward. Picking breezy spots to ensure cleaning events is also key. The first winter months Opportunity rover spent on the red planet caused an outage. Learning from this lesson, the team is now carefully choosing the spots where the Mars rover is to conduct its work during winter months.

Currently, Opportunity rover is located in the Marathon Valley of the Endeavour crater. According to NASA statements, its work in this region should conclude by the end of 2016.

Photo Credits: Wikimedia

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: Mars rover, Opportunity rover, red planet, solar panels, Spirit rover, winter month

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 34 other subscribers

Operation Paperclip

Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

Jun 6, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

giant ground sloths on white background

It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

May 8, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

May 7, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

Apr 20, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

infrared image of a dog

Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

Apr 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

snake slithering on a beige background

Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

Feb 26, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

woolly mammoth

Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

Feb 14, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

High Priestess tomb.

Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

Feb 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

dwarf galaxies

Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

Feb 4, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

Feb 1, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

KFC Smoky Wings Box Can Turn into Awesome Drone

Jan 26, 2018 By Robert Moore Leave a Comment

Tesla Model S

Tesla Model S Involved in Autopilot Malfunction Accident

Jan 24, 2018 By Joe Hennessey Leave a Comment

Duke Nukem.

John Cena Cold Feature in Duke Nukem Movie

Jan 23, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

Battlefield One

Battlefield One Apocalypse DLC to Land in February

Jan 20, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Operation Paperclip

    Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

    Jun 6, 2018
  • giant ground sloths on white background

    It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

    May 8, 2018
  • sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

    A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

    May 7, 2018
  • ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

    Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

    Apr 20, 2018
  • infrared image of a dog

    Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

    Apr 5, 2018
  • snake slithering on a beige background

    Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

    Feb 26, 2018
  • woolly mammoth

    Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

    Feb 14, 2018
  • High Priestess tomb.

    Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

    Feb 5, 2018
  • dwarf galaxies

    Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

    Feb 4, 2018
  • NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

    NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

    Feb 1, 2018

Categories

  • Business News
  • Entertainment
  • Featured
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • Nature
  • Politics & National
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 TheMonitorDaily.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Sitemap · Contact

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.