Opportunity's main surface mission is only planned to last a maximum of 90 days. The mission has been expanded several times in the past and has been operational for 2,605 days since landing. A weekly update archive on the rover's status can be found in the Opportunity update archive.
From the initial landing, we landed in an impact crater by accident, otherwise we were expected to land on a plain. Opportunity successfully studied soil and rock samples and took panoramic photos of the landing site. The samples it took allowed NASA scientists to hypothesize about the presence of hematite and the past presence of water on the surface. To prove this, Opportunity crossed the Martian surface to investigate another site, the Endurance crater; the survey was conducted from June to December 2004. Subsequently, the Opportunity rover investigated the impact site of the heat shield it had abandoned during its descent and discovered the intact meteorite, which was later named Heat Shield Rock.
From late April 2005 to early June of that year, several of Opportunity's wheels became dangerously stuck in the sand dunes. More than six weeks of physical simulations were conducted on Earth to find the best way to free it from the sand to avoid becoming permanently stuck and scrapped. Later, after a few centimeters of movement, it successfully escaped and continued its journey.
Between October 2005 and March 2006, Opportunity headed towards Victoria Crater in the south, passing a large, shallow and partially covered crater - Dark Crater ( Erebus crater); later also encountered problems with the robotic arm. At the end of September 2006, Opportunity arrived at Victoria Crater and explored the crater's rim clockwise. In June 2007, Opportunity returned to Duck Bay, where the impact crater was first reached; in September of the same year, it entered the impact crater and began detailed research. In August 2008, Opportunity left Victoria Crater and is currently heading toward Endeavor crater.
As of May 16, 2013 (3309 days), Opportunity’s mileage is 35.76 kilometers (22.22 miles), which also broke NASA’s record for unmanned rover movement outside the Earth. In 2006 On March 22, 2006 (mission day 760), Opportunity left Dark Crater and began its journey to Victoria Crater, later arriving in September 2006 (mission day 951). It will remain in Victoria Crater until August 2008 (mission days 1630-1634).
Victoria Crater is an impact crater about 7 kilometers away from the landing site. It is six times larger in diameter than Endurance Crater. Scientists believe the exposed rock on the walls of Victoria Crater could yield more information about Mars' geological history, if the rover survives long enough to investigate.
On mission day 951 (September 26, 2006), Opportunity reached the edge of Victoria Crater and transmitted the first real-life photos of Victoria Crater, including the sand dunes at the bottom of the crater. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter also took photos of Opportunity at the edge of the crater. On January 4, 2007, both Opportunity and Spirit received new flight software for the onboard computers. The timing of this update coincides with the third anniversary of their landing. The new system allows the rover to decide whether to send a photo and use a robotic arm to study the rock, saving scientists a lot of time from having to filter through hundreds of photos to find the one they want, or Study your surroundings to decide whether to use your robotic arm to investigate rocks.
A series of cleanup events began on mission day 1151 (April 20, 2007) and increased Opportunity's solar power generation to 800 watts per hour per day. By mission day 1164 (May 2007) 4), the vehicle's solar array could generate more than 4.0 amps of power since Mission Day 18 (February 10, 2004). In any case, a large-scale dust storm that occurred on Mars in mid-2007 (a global dust storm cycle that occurs every six Earth years coaxial with Mars) reduced Opportunity’s power generation to 280 watts per hour.
Towards the end of June 2007. A series of dust storms began to cover the Martian atmosphere. The storm continued to intensify, and by July 20, both Opportunity and Spirit faced the possibility of real system failure due to insufficient solar power. NASA issued a formal statement to the press (excerpt): We are working hard to make the rovers survive storms, but they are not designed for such intense conditions. The key problem is that solar power is rapidly declining due to dust storms. There is so much sand in the Martian atmosphere that it blocks 99% of the direct sunlight reaching the rover. The Spirit rover, located elsewhere, only gets a little more light than Opportunity.
Under normal circumstances, the solar power array can produce 700 watts of energy per hour every day. In sandstorms, power generation capacity is significantly reduced. If the rover generates less than 150 watts per hour per day, it will begin to drain its battery. If the battery dies, critical electronics may fail due to the extreme cold. On July 18, 2007, the rover's solar power produced only 128 watts per hour, the lowest point in the mission's history. NASA's response was to order the Opportunity rover to communicate with the Earth every three days. This was the first time in the history of its mission that such a situation had occurred.
When the dust storm lasted until the end of July, NASA announced that even in extraordinary circumstances In low power mode, the rover barely gets enough energy to survive. If the temperature of Opportunity's electronic modules continues to drop, there is a high risk that Opportunity will experience a period of low-power failure, according to the official statement. When a low-power failure occurs, the rover's systems will shut down the battery and allow the rover to perform operations. Sleep and check each mission day to see if there is enough light for the rover to wake up and perform daily fault communications. Without enough energy, Opportunity will continue to sleep. Depending on weather conditions, Opportunity could sleep for days, weeks, or even months, all depending on whether it can get enough light to try and recharge its batteries. The rover will never recover from a low-power malfunction. Waking up was quite possible at that time.
By August 7, 2007, the dust storm showed signs of weakening, and although the power generation level was still low, it was still enough for Opportunity to start taking pictures and Send back photos. By August 21, the amount of sand in the sandstorm continued to increase, but the battery in the car was fully charged, allowing it to drive for the first time since the sandstorm began.
On September 11, 2007, Opportunity took a moment to drive into Duck Bay and then drove out again to test the friction of the slope when it first entered Victoria Crater. On September 13 of the same year, Opportunity began a more complete exploration of the interior slope, investigating a series of gray-white rock formations in the northern part of Duck Bay and details of the Cape Verde front. From August 24 to 28, 2008 (mission days 1630 to 1634), Opportunity left the Victoria Crater after experiencing an accident similar to the twin Spirit rovers stepping on a spike, causing right front wheel failure. On its way to Endeavor Crater, Opportunity will study a series of dark cobbles on Meridian Plateau.
Endeavor Crater is located 12 kilometers southeast of Victoria Crater and has a diameter of 22 kilometers (13.7 miles). The journey is estimated to take two years to arrive. Scientists expect Opportunity to find more rock formations in this crater than Victoria Crater.
The phyllosilicate clay-bearing rock found on the edge of Endeavor Crater is believed to have an exposed rock shape that is more suitable for life than previous analysis.
The solar conjunction phenomenon is when the Earth and Mars move to the approximate relative position with the sun as the center. At this time, the sun is between the Earth and Mars; this phenomenon began on November 29, 2008 and caused the roaming Communication between the vehicle and Earth was interrupted and was not restored until December 13 of the same year. During this time, the control team plans to use Opportunity's M?ssbauer spectrometer to study an exposed rock named Santorini.
Photographed by the High-Resolution Mapping Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on January 29, 2009. The circle on the way represents the position of Opportunity, which is 17 kilometers away from the Endeavor Crater. (10.6 miles) far. On March 7, 2009 (mission day 1820), Opportunity arrived at the edge of Endeavor Crater after leaving Victoria Crater in August 2008 and walking about 3.2 kilometers (2 miles). It also observed the Iazu impact crater, about 38 kilometers (24 miles) away, and estimated its diameter to be 7 kilometers (4 miles).
On April 7, 2009 (mission day 1850), Opportunity's power supply increased by 40 to 515 watts per hour due to the unexpected removal of dust from the solar panel. From April 16 to 22 (mission days 1859 to 1865), Opportunity made multiple trips and covered a total of 478 meters (1,568 feet) during that week. As Opportunity studied an outcrop of rock named Penrhyn, the right front wheel's steering actuator reset to bring the motor very close to normal. On January 28, 2010 (mission day 2138), Opportunity arrived at the Concepcion crater. Before heading to Endeavor Crater, it successfully walked around the 10-meter-diameter crater. During this time, the power supply was reduced from 305 watts per hour to 270 watts per hour.
On May 5, 2010, due to the possibility of dangerous sand dunes on the route between Victoria Crater and Endeavor Crater, the original route was changed and extended to 19 kilometers long.
On May 19, 2010, Opportunity completed 2,246 mission days, surpassing the record of 2,245 mission days of Viking 1 and becoming the longest-lasting Mars surface mission in history.
In July 2010, the Opportunity research team announced that it would be captained by Lieutenant James Cook, a British Royal Navy captain who led the Endeavor Fleet in the Pacific from 1769 to 1771. , as the unofficial name for the crater Endeavor. These include Cape Tribulation, Cape Dromedary, Cape Byron (the first named location on the Australian mainland) and Point Hicks (sighted by the Endeavor Fleet in 1770) (the first Australian location)
On September 8, 2010, NASA announced that Opportunity had reached half of its path between Victoria Crater and Endeavor Crater.
In November of the same year, Opportunity spent several days taking photos of a 20-meter impact crater named Brave while passing through a small impact crater area. On November 14, 2010 (mission day 2420), Opportunity reached the mileage record of 25 kilometers. At this time, it was about 1.5 kilometers away from the Santa Maria crater, and there were still 6.5 kilometers to reach the Endeavor crater. In October and November, solar electricity supply is approximately 600 watts per hour.
As of December 10, 2010, Opportunity has traveled more than 26 kilometers on the surface of Mars since landing on January 25, 2004.
On December 15, 2010 (mission day 2450), Opportunity arrived at the Santa Maria impact crater. The control team plans to let it explore the 90-meter-wide impact crater (about the size of an American football field) in the next few weeks. , Scientists on Friday described NASA's Opportunity Mars rover as limping and arthritic, but they praised its new findings about the presence of water on Mars' early days. Opportunity made this discovery about 10 years after its mission to the Red Planet.
The unmanned, solar-powered rover has just completed its analysis of what may be the oldest rock it has ever obtained. The rock, named Hope 6, contains evidence that Mars once had large amounts of potentially life-bearing water that left behind clay minerals in the rock
Cornell University Lead researcher Steve Squires said: "This is strong evidence that water once interacted with this rock and changed its chemical structure, significantly altering its mineralogy."
He called the study "almost the most important" result in the 10 years since the Opportunity exploration mission began, because the chemistry it shows is completely different from most previous discoveries about the presence of water on Mars. Mars is very dry.
Scientists believe that large amounts of water once flowed through Martian rocks and through cracks in the rocks, leaving an unusually high concentration of clay in the rocks. Squires said the analysis showed traces of potentially potable water dating back to the first billion years of Mars' history, when clay rocks were forming in a more neutral pH environment. Only later did the environment become harsher and the water became more acidic.
Opportunity's rock-grinding tools, alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and microscopy imager provide scientists on Earth with details that allow them to return rocks to Earth without having to bring them back to Earth. They know the history of Mars.
The "Opportunity" Mars rover and its twin brother "Spirit" were launched in 2003 and landed on Mars in January of the following year. The initial plan was for them to conduct a three-month exploration. Both probes have found evidence of a wet environment on ancient Mars. When introducing the main differences in the composition of the rocks of the "Hope", Squires told reporters: "Most of the evidence previously found by the 'Opportunity' was sulfuric acid. But this time it found drinkable water in the past. The biggest discovery made by the Opportunity rover on Mars during that time was that it was standing on an ancient coastline. It discovered that there was a warm and moist liquid ocean containing salt on Mars. This discovery was also reviewed by Science magazine. For the biggest scientific breakthrough of 2004.
One of the first clues obtained by Opportunity was that gray hematite is actually a kind of rust, and most of the iron on the earth sank during the early formation of the earth. In the center of the earth, Mars has a much smaller mass than the earth, so a lot of iron remains on its surface, providing raw materials for the formation of gray hematite. Gray hematite exists widely on the earth, and you can usually find it. It is found in still water and hot springs, and sometimes volcanic activity can also bring gray hematite. Therefore, the presence of gray hematite means that liquid water is likely to exist.
Later, Opportunity passed through. Analysis of Martian rocks has successively discovered four other pieces of evidence, all of which strongly suggest the existence of a liquid ocean on Mars. Opportunity has discovered spherical objects several centimeters in diameter in and around rocks. Their chemical composition is similar to that of rocks. Different, they should be formed by the solidification of substances in liquid water; Opportunity's photos show that there are some flat holes in the rocks, which should be leftover after the crystals decompose in the water; Opportunity's spectrometer is Large amounts of sulfur were detected inside the rock, which could only come from sulfates formed in a watery environment; another of Opportunity's spectrometers found jarosite, a rare substance that typically forms in water. p>
Shortly after the Opportunity rover discovered the Martian ocean, the Spirit rover also discovered traces of liquid water on the other side of Mars, but the water there seemed to be much less. In March 2007, the Opportunity rover was lucky enough to Witnessed a "solar eclipse" on Mars for the first time.
Maybe saying "solar eclipse" here will cause misunderstanding, because a "solar eclipse" on Mars is really far from a solar eclipse on our earth, but there is no better name available.
Mars has two natural satellites, both of which are much smaller than the moon. In other words, they are like two irregularly shaped boulders. One of them is equivalent to 23 kilometers in diameter, and the other is only equivalent to 13 kilometers. In the field of view, the two satellites are just two small black dots, so when the so-called Mars eclipse occurs, there are only two small black dots passing by on the sun, just like two moving stars. sunspot.
The solar eclipse seen by Opportunity was caused by Phobos. It lasted very short, only about 20 seconds. This is also a characteristic of Mars eclipses. The duration of the solar eclipse caused by Phobos is about 30 seconds, and that of Deimos is longer, up to 3 minutes. By comparison, a total solar eclipse on Earth usually lasts a few minutes, but no longer than eight minutes.
Discovering rocks formed in acidic lakes
A turning point was made when the Opportunity rover just landed on the Meridiani Planum on the surface of Mars. The landing site rocks were formed in an ancient acidic lake, evidence of which comes from hematite, a mineral that typically forms in water as tiny spherical particles that resemble blueberries. This unique curvilinear sediment is formed by gentle water erosion. When the salty water evaporates, the sulfate is later precipitated, eventually forming this rock structure.
First meteorite discovered on Mars
In January 2005, the Opportunity rover found an unusual, metal-like rock near its discarded heat shield. The spectrometer carried confirmed that the rock is composed of iron and nickel, indicating that it may be a meteorite from space. This is also the first time that humans have discovered a meteorite on an alien body
"Purgatory Dunes"
In April 2005, the "Opportunity" got stuck in a shallow sandy ridge. It finally took it five weeks to get out of the 30 cm thick sandy ridge. This rippled sand The textured soil was named "Purgatory Dunes".
Arrived at Victoria Crater
In September 2006, the "Opportunity" traveled 9 kilometers from the landing site "Eagle Crater" to the 800-meter-diameter "Victoria Crater" Crater" Victoria Crater, which is 40 times the diameter of Eagle Crater, was studied for six months in 2004. After a year of surveying and detecting dust storms around Victoria Crater, the Opportunity rover began to enter the crater in September 2007. The crater formed by the meteorite collision is 30 meters deep, which is the depth of the crater previously surveyed by the Opportunity rover. 6 times. What's more, Victoria Crater will witness the entire life of the Meridian Plateau. The crater is covered with sulfate sandstone, a rock thought to have formed billions of years ago when sand dunes interacted with water, which was very It may have come from a shallow lake, which was then joined and strengthened to form a solid rock. Mars rover scientist Ray Arvidson said: "This environment confirms that the existence of lakes on ancient Mars was regional, not local." The Victoria meteorite The pit cliff was named Cape St Vincent.
In August 2008, the "Opportunity" struggled to climb in the Victoria Crater and began to move towards a multi-cavity crater called "Endeavour", which is an area of ????the Victoria Crater. 20 times the pit.
Discovering a huge underground water layer
It is still working "in good health" on the surface of the red planet and celebrated its 8th anniversary of working on Mars in February 2012 day. In August 2011, after almost three years of trekking, this weather-beaten Mars rover finally arrived at its dream destination: the Endeavor Crater with a diameter of about 22 kilometers.
Opportunity also discovered what geologists consider to be the best evidence that liquid water once flowed on the surface of Mars. Exploring the Matijevic Mountains
Many people have set their sights on the exploration mission to Mars. In terms of Curiosity's exploration work, in fact, there has already been a figure from the earth, the "Opportunity" Mars rover, which has carried out an exploration plan on this mysterious red planet, and the Opportunity rover is currently investigating the "Mattie" on Mars. The exploration plan was carried out on "Matijevic Mountain". The imaging tools on Opportunity captured an image overlooking "Matijevic Mountain". The entire "Matijevic Mountain" is 14 miles, and there is also a crater called Endeavor. The rover, which has driven nearly 22 miles away from the landing site, is also rich in iron in the rocks.
The small spheres in Matijevic Mountain have different compositions and internal structures. Opportunity's science team is evaluating the composition of rock elements in the area and how the spheroids formed. Each sphere is approximately 3 mm wide in diameter.
Opportunity found that there are hydrated minerals in the nodules of these spherical rocks, which is one of the reasons why these rocks form spherical particles. However, this theory is still speculative, and there is no further evidence to prove that the presence of water on Mars caused the formation of these small spheres. Another possibility is that the formation of these small spheres is due to the eruption of volcanic ash, which led to the formation of these small spheres. Of course there may be other possibilities.
“Currently, we have many hypotheses about the formation of small spheres, all of which are hypothetical studies on the formation and morphology of small spheres.” Opportunity’s main researcher - Steve Squire "The discovery of the formation of small spheres is very helpful for our understanding of the Matijevic Mountains. We will study our hypothesis possibilities in the next few months and come up with the most promising "What may lead to the formation of small spheres", according to foreign media reports, NASA's overdue "Opportunity" Mars rover is slightly better than the "Curiosity" Mars rover and has now discovered a clay deposit containing water. This confirms that the clay layer forming water on the surface of Mars is far beyond previous scientists' predictions.
This research result was obtained with the help of the Mars Orbiter's positioning and analysis of the chemical composition of the Opportunity rover's current location. In August 2011, the Opportunity rover was in Meridian after extending its service period for 1,000 days. After crossing the plain for 20 kilometers, we arrived at Endeavor Crater. Chemical surveys show it is rich in a variety of clays that help form water on Earth.
It is reported that the Opportunity and Spirit rovers landed on the surface of Mars in January 2004. They were responsible for surveying and looking for evidence of the existence of water resources in the history of Mars. These two rovers have mastered the importance of water resources to the ancient Mars. Period plays an important role, but the chemistry of the Martian liquid has been determined to be highly acidic, similar to battery electrolyte, and is not suitable for life as we know it.
The scientist in charge of the study, Steve Squire, He told the American Geophysical Conference in San Francisco that clay minerals are closely related to the chemical properties of neutral water, which is drinkable water.
If the service life of the Opportunity rover can continue to be extended, scientists hope to make more important discoveries. The Mars Orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) found that the rim and interior of Endeavor Crater contain more types of clay minerals than the two types of clay previously reported to have been found.
Associate Professor James Rey, a planetary scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, said that if the Opportunity rover can find samples of Martian clay and allow us to observe and analyze it up close, we can determine how this clay was formed and whether it was formed in deep water. Lakes, shallow ponds or volcanic eruptions.
Further Martian clay survey and analysis data are expected to come from the Curiosity Mars rover. On August 6, 2003, the Mars rover landed in a huge crater with a 4.8-kilometer-high layered sedimentary highland at the bottom of the crater. Unlike the Opportunity rover, Curiosity is equipped with a sophisticated onboard chemistry laboratory that can be used to analyze rock and soil samples. Two of Opportunity's important scientific instruments are no longer working properly. This research report was published in the publication "Geophysical Research Letters".
This is also the Opportunity rover that will usher in its 10th year on the surface of Mars. Opportunity landed on January 24, 2004. Its original goal was to search for clues on the surface of Mars whether water once existed. This was originally only a three-month mission, but it has continued to this day, and Opportunity has been running 36 times longer than originally planned.
Since landing on Mars, Opportunity has traveled 22.03 miles (more than 35,000 meters), further than its goal of 2,000 feet (609.2 meters). For the first three months, NASA scientists were filled with excitement because Opportunity provided evidence that water had flowed on the surface of Mars at some time in the past. These days, Opportunity has been busy among the craters, trying to See deeper into Mars' surface.
The "spirit" of Opportunity is touching, but we bet that NASA will continue to get more scientific investigations from Opportunity