On January 24, 2004, the Opportunity rover (MER-B) entered the Martian atmosphere and landed on the surface of the red planet. The complex of stages of entry, descent and landing moved the rover, surrounded by airbags, and slipped into a small depression called the Eagle Crater in the Plateau of Meridian, the scientists called the mission of the rover “into the hole from the first blow”. After straightening, the airbags were blown away and retracted into the Opportunity lander and a golf-sized robot for the first time saw his new home, Mars. The initial mission of the rover was scheduled for three months; then NASA hardly understood that they would have a working rover exploring Mars after 12 years. Here are just a few of the exciting images of Opportunity during the first days of the mission.
Opportunity's Martian Birth
Here is shown the first Opportunity self portrait sent to Earth immediately after landing on the mission “0Col” (Sol is a Martian day, the duration of all missions on the surface of Mars are calculated with salts). Its brilliant solar panel reflects the sunlight from above the landing platform. Notice that the lowered air bags, around the rover, left a grooved mark on the Martian dust.
“To the hole from the first strike”: Eagle Crater
Opportunity was the second of two twin rovers, which landed on the Martian regolith in January 2004. Just over two weeks before that, NASA celebrated the successful landing of Spirit on the other side of the planet at the Gusev Crater. Spirit was also very successful, conducted innovative scientific work on other landscapes compared to Opportunity. Unfortunately, Spirit became a victim of the Martian elements in 2009, after being stuck in a sand trap. In this part of the panorama taken by the Opportunity camera, the rover checks the environment on January 26th. The Eagle Crater Ring is located 10 meters from the rover, blocking Opportuny’s view of the surrounding landscape.
Preparing for a free trip
This is January 30, seen from the Opportunity rear camera, showing the landing module platform and the surrounding crater before the Mars rover “descends” onto the Martian soil.
Fall Trails
Evidence of a dramatic landing of the rover around the landing site. It looks like the fall marks were made by a giant basketball, but in fact they were imprinted with huge airbags that were used to soften the Opportunity landing, rebound and landing in the Eagle Crater.
Farewell
On the 7th Sol mission (January 31, 2004), the drivers of the rover ordered Opportunity to roll onto the Martian surface, leaving behind the landing module, which was his home for 283 million miles from Earth to the Plateau Meridian.
Memorial Challenger Station
The landing module, shown here in color, with traces of the tracks of the rover in the background, from descending to the surface of Opportunity, was named the Challenger Memorial Station, in honor of the last command of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which died when the shuttle disintegrated during the flight during launch on January 28, 1986.
Goodbye Crater Eagle
After quickly exploring the turf 22 meters wide, Opportuny left Crater Eagle and shot this panorama of his landing site on the 33rd, 35th and 36th salt of the mission. The crater is surrounded by the flat plains of the Plateau of Meridian, an area in which it will spend 10 years and about 24 miles of wandering (today).
What's down
When the rover rolled through the loose regolith, its drivers were able to use the wheels to dig trenches in the mud and see what material is underneath. The trench shown here has been dug out for close inspection with the Opportunity microscopic camera.
First look at blueberries
With a microscopic camera, Opportunity discovered a region that was rife with small mineral formations that looked like blueberries. This amazing discovery has forced scientists to make assumptions in the last decade that these spherical inclusions of hematite appeared in Mars' wet past or formed as a result of volcanic activity.
Erasing Stone
To analyze the material under the stone surface of Mars, he uses an erase stone tool and leaves round holes after use. This is an image of the Opportunyi front camera showing one such mark on the “McCittrick” stone, located in the “El Capitan” area of large open rocks near the Opportunyi landing site for 30 Sol missions.
Glitter on Horizon
During the exploration of the Crater Eagle, Opportunity could see its discarded casing and parachute during a fall in the atmosphere of Mars. It became Opportuny’s mission: to roll and explore its wreckage.
Approaching the Casing
A rare opportunity to see a piece of equipment that allowed us to survive a fire descent, through the Martian atmosphere, a year after landing, Opportunity approached the old casing, which was last seen on January 24, 2004, before falling into Crater Eagle. The shiny casing shown here protects the rover from temperatures that reach thousands of degrees when entering the atmosphere.
Protective Armor
When Opportunity checked the remains of its thermal shield, engineers happily noticed that it was turned upside down and glittered with silvery inner material. Pay attention to the large springs on the surface - a lot of people made these objects, for a very alien landscape.
To ...
A month after landing, it became clear that Opportunity would not stop and its mission would go beyond three months. Passing through his adventures, Opportunity repeatedly made “selfies”, and engineers from Earth could control the accumulation of dust on solar panels. About a year and a half of the mission, the panels were virtually dust free. However, Opportuny’s solar panels are not preserved for this reason ...
... Then ...
A decade wandering around Mars caused a huge amount of dust to accumulate on Opportuny’s solar panels. In this photo taken in January 2014, Opportunity is almost completely disguised. Although this reduces the amount of sunlight being converted into energy, the rover lasted until Mars extended a helping hand in the form of wind blowing off some of this dust ...
... After ...
This NASA Opportuny Mars rover self-portrait, made in March 2014 (right) shows how much dust was blown off the solar rocket solar panels compared to the same in January 2014 (left).
Ten years of exploration of Mars have taken their toll: one of the six rover wheels has frozen, some tools are disabled, but Opportunity is still moving, developing new science and finding new secrets that will provide answers to some unpleasant questions of planetary science. But above all, Opportunity is a legacy to scientists, NASA engineers, and collaborating agencies who know how to build a rover.
