RIP Opportunity

Sad news from Mars today.

An announcement came from NASA. The Opportunity rover has officially been pronounced dead.

Last June, a sandstorm covered the planet Mars. It was thought that the dust covered the solar panels on Opportunity, causing it to power down. Once the storm subsided, Martian winds might blow the panels clean and the rover might once more respond to signals. Nearly 1,000 command signals were sent to Opportunity since last year. No reply ever came. After a last, longshot attempt went unanswered yesterday, NASA announced it was finally cutting off communication and pronounced the Opportunity mission "complete."

Opportunity first arrived on Mars in 2004. Since then, it has not only broadened our understanding of Mars immeasurably, its very engineering and the undertaking of the mission has granted humanity considerable experience with space exploration. Hopefully, we may parlay this experience into future endeavors and build upon it with more extensive Mars missions. And yet I feel uneasy...

I must admit, I'm feeling a bit sad for the inanimate rover. You see, for as dour as I can be about our future or the tendencies of human nature, I cannot ignore achievements such as Opportunity. The mission and the research gleaned from it stand as testament to what we can do when we work together as species, particularly when we have faith in reason, science, and a dash of imagination. As a writer, I tend to sometimes see things romantically, despite my penchant for bitterness. Opportunity represents the spirit of exploration and the acquisition of knowledge about not just another planet, but our universe. "What's over there? Let's find out."

Where else in our most immediate corner of the universe has inspired more wonder and attractancy than Mars?

Sure, would have been nice if it had come across definitive evidence of life, either past or present, on Mars. I for one was hoping Opportunity just might come across a rock that was a little more than a rock, and instead an artifact from a lost civilization. I can just hear the conspiracy theorists howling, but for the now...we have no such evidence. Instead, we have piles of data collected over 14 years, that scientists in various disciplines will be chewing over for a long while to come.

You have given us so much, Opportunity. We are forever in your debt. Rest easy, little soldier. Your job is done.

Now, a planet solely populated by robots must decrement its population by one.

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