Opportunity Phone Home! (2018)

on June 10, 2018 Mars Exploration Rover 1, known to us friends as Opportunity sister of Spirit, sent her last communication to us earthlings. A planet-wide dust storm on Mars probably covered her solar panels so she couldn't juice up. we still eagerly await from Oppy in 2019.

Opportunity Phone Home pt. 2 (2018)

Continually hopeful for a callback

Photo by Opportunity, on Mars.

Sojourner (2018)

Part of @1stopRaellashop’s “Know Your Mars Rovers” series. An attempt to excite people about planetary science. Meet Sojourner, who travelled to Mars with a little lander you may know called Pathfinder in 1997. Sojourner was the first ever rover to drive around Mars. Pathfinder had the cameras, but Sojourner had the wheels. She would drive 83 days of a planned 7 day mission. Ultimately it was because Pathfinder lost communication abilities that Sojourner would stop roving around Mars. For all we know the rover could be trying to find Opportunity.

Opportunity//Spirit (2018)

Part of @1stopRaellashop’s “Know Your Mars Rovers” series. An attempt to excite people about planetary science. Meet Spirit and Opportunity, the twin rovers crash and bounce landed on Mars in 2004. Their first main goal was to study weather patterns on the surface of Mars. Both rovers would far exceed their expected lifetimes on the planet. Spirit had always had it harder than Opportunity, and in her second year on Mars she’d lose a wheel to the sands, having to relearn how to drive with just five wheels. She’d struggle with her dragging wheel every winter until finally she’d get stuck in some fine martian dust that was scientifically very interesting, but too difficult for her to maneuver out of. She’d send her last signals to us earthlings in 2010.

Curiosity (2018)

Part of @1stopRaellashop’s “Know Your Mars Rovers” series. An attempt to excite people about planetary science. Meet Curiosity, also known as the Mars Science Lab (MSL), the biggest baddest rover ever to snap photos on Mars. She landed on the red planet in 2012 and has been taking incredible footage ever since. Did you know that originally James Cameron was involved with the number of cameras on Curiosity? He had this idea to be the first guy to shoot a movie on Mars (cool!), but he quit the project because someone wouldn’t give him the particular zoom he wanted (lame! let me take over!). Curiosity has a suite of TEN scientific instruments in addition to all her eyes, she ain’t called MSL for nothing! Curiosity continues to rove and conduct science experiments as she awaits her next rover friend’s arrival - Mars 2020.

InSight Lander (2018)

InSight is the latest robot to join the Martian gang. She’s brought some exciting scientific instruments with her; a seismometer and a heat flow probe! Set to study the interior of the planet, people are calling her the first Martian Archaeologist, JEALOUS!