OPPORTUNITY [ROVER]

OPPORTUNITY ROVER

Opportunity, also known as MER-B or MER-1, and

nicknamed "Oppy", is a robotic rover that was
active on Mars from 2004 to late 2018.

Launch date: 8 July 2003, 8:48 am IST

Max speed: 0.18 km/h
Landing date: January 25, 2004, 05:05 UTC SCET; MSD
46236 14:35 AMT
Cost: 40 crores USD
Distance covered: 45.16 km (28.06 mi) (as of 18
September 2018)
PART’S OF OPPORTUNITY ROVER
 ABOUT THE MISSION

• Opportunity was the second of the two rovers launched in 2003 to land on Mars and
begin traversing the Red Planet in search of signs of past life. The rover is still
actively exploring the Martian terrain, having far outlasted her planned 90-day
mission.
Since landing on Mars in 2004, Opportunity has made a number of discoveries about
the Red Planet including dramatic evidence that long ago at least one area of Mars
stayed wet for an extended period and that conditions could have been suitable for
sustaining microbial life.
The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide
dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand
commands to restore contact, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made their last attempt to revive Opportunity
Tuesday, February 13, 2019, to no avail. The solar-powered rover's final
communication was received June 10.
 LAUNCHING DETAILS

• Acronym : MER
• Type : Lander/Rover
• Status : Past
• Launch Date : July 07, 2003
11:18 p.m. EDT (03:18 UTC)
• Launch Location : Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
• Landing Date : January 25, 2004
04:54 UTC
• Mission End Date : June 10, 2018
• Target : Mars
• Destination : Terra Meridiani, Mars
• Rocket : DELTA II 7925H-9.5
• Mass of rover : 185 Kg
• Mission : Planned: 90 sols (92.5 Earth days)
• Duration : Final: 5,352 sols (5498 Earth days from landing to mission end; 15 Earth years or 8 Martian years)
Scientific Instrument(s)

• - Panoramic camera (Pancam)

- Microscopic Imager (MI)
- Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES)
- Mossbauer Spectrometer (MB)
- Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS)
- Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT)
- Magnet arrays
- Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams)
- Navigation Cameras (Navcams)
 OBJECTIVES

The scientific objectives of the Mars Exploration Rover mission were to:[37]
• Search for and characterize a variety of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity. In particular,
samples sought include those that have minerals deposited by water-related processes such
as precipitation, evaporation, sedimentary cementation or hydrothermal activity.
• Determine the distribution and composition of minerals, rocks, and soils surrounding the landing sites.
• Determine what geologic processes have shaped the local terrain and influenced the chemistry. Such
processes could include water or wind erosion, sedimentation, hydrothermal mechanisms, volcanism, and
cratering.
• Perform calibration and validation of surface observations made by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter instruments.
This will help determine the accuracy and effectiveness of various instruments that survey Martian
geology from orbit.
• Search for iron-containing minerals, identify and quantify relative amounts of specific mineral types that
contain water or were formed in water, such as iron-bearing carbonates.
• Characterize the mineralogy and textures of rocks and soils and determine the processes that created them.
• Search for geological clues to the environmental conditions that existed when liquid water was present.
 Mission overview

• Collectively, the Opportunity and Spirit rovers were part of the Mars Exploration
Rover program in the long-term Mars Exploration Program. The Mars Exploration
Program's four principal goals were to determine if the potential for life exists on Mars
(in particular, whether recoverable water may be found on Mars), to characterize the
Mars climate and its geology, and then to prepare for a potential human mission to
Mars. The Mars Exploration Rovers were to travel across the Martian surface and
perform periodic geologic analyses to determine if water ever existed on Mars as well
as the types of minerals available, as well as to corroborate data taken by the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter.[18] Spirit and Opportunity were launched a month apart, on
June 10 and July 7, 2003, and both reached the Martian surface by January 2004. Both
rovers were designed with an expected 90 sols (92 Earth days) lifetime, but each lasted
much longer than expected. Spirit's mission lasted 20 times longer than its expected
lifetime, and its mission was declared ended on May 25, 2011, after it got stuck in soft
soil and expended its power reserves trying to free itself. Opportunity lasted 55 times
longer than its 90 sol planned lifetime, operating for 5498 days from landing to mission
end. An archive of weekly updates on the rover's status can be found at
the Opportunity Update Archive.
Area around the heat shield, including the resulting shield impact point. The heat
shield was released before the rover landed and struck the surface on its own,
and the rover later drove to the impact site. Near this location it discovered the
first meteorite found on Mars, Heat Shield Rock
Opportunity's view from the top of Cape Tribulation on the
rim of Endeavour Crater, January 22, 2015.

On Sol 3894 (January 6, 2015), Opportunity reached the summit of "Cape

Tribulation," which is 443 feet (135 m) above "Botany Bay" level and the highest point
yet reached by the rover on western rim of Endeavour Crater according to NASA.
Opportunity rover "off-world" driving
distance record, compared to other rovers
 Views

Opportunity rover "off-world" driving Solander Point is visible on the horizon; Pancam view from August 2012
BackTrack view (August 2010)
distance record, compared to other foreground shows Botany Bay[61] (Sol 3058)
rovers
Panorama of Spirit of St. Louis crater, a shallow crater about 34 meters (110 ft)
long and 24 meters (80 ft) across. In its center is Lindbergh Mound, about 2 to 3
meters (6 to 10 ft) high. (annotated; false color; May 2015)
Traverse maps
An example of a rover traverse map featuring a line showing path of the rover, and mission sols, which
are Mars days counted from its landing and typical of Mars surface mission time reporting. Topographic
lines and various feature names are also common
 Thank you
• Presentation by :- Ayush singh (0901AU161012)
• Kshitij gupt (0901AU121034)
• Mohammad junaid (0901AU161038)
• Saharsh hanwate (0901AU161045)
• Hirendra dwivedi
• Rishab yadav