Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
Culture > News

After 15 Years, NASA’s Mars Rover’s Mission is Complete

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Clark chapter.

Opportunity, the longest-lived roving robot, was declared dead by NASA Wednesday.

“It is therefore that I am standing here with a sense of deep appreication and gratitude that I declare the Opportunity mission as complete,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science.

Opportunity provided an up-close view of Mars for NASA for 15 years. It snapped photos. Opportunity found fine layers of rocks that preserved ripples of flowing water.

Opportunity also changed how NASA explored a planet, instead of just looking into a single spot.

Opportunity lasted much longer than expected. Its twin rover, Spirit, persisted until 2010.

Curiousity, a larger, more capable rover, arrived on Mars in 2012. NASA is planning to launch another rover in 2020.

Monica Sager is a freelance writer from Clark University, where she is pursuing a double major in psychology and self-designed journalism with a minor in English. She wants to become an investigative journalist to combat and highlight humanitarian issues. Monica has previously been published in The Pottstown Mercury, The Week UK, Worcester Telegram and Gazette and even The Boston Globe. Read more of Monicaā€™s previous work on her Twitter @MonicaSager3.