Opportunity (rover)

Opportunity
Mission type Mars rover
Operator NASA
COSPAR ID 2003-032A
Website JPL's Mars Exploration Rover
Mission duration Planned: 90 sols (92.5 days)
Current: 4575 sols (4701 days) since landing
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Rover
Dry mass 185 kilograms (408 lb) (rover only)
Start of mission
Launch date July 7, 2003 03:18 UTC (2003-07-07UTC03:18)[1][2]
Rocket Delta II 7925H-9.5[2][3][4]
Launch site Cape Canaveral SLC-17B
Contractor Boeing
Mars rover
Landing date January 25, 2004,[1] 05:05 UTC SCET
MSD 46236 14:35 AMT
Landing site 1°56′46″S 354°28′24″E / 1.9462°S 354.4734°E / -1.9462; 354.4734 (Opportunity rover)[5]
Distance covered 43.44 km (26.99 mi)[6] (as of 4 October 2016)


The launch patch for Opportunity, featuring Duck Dodgers (Daffy Duck)

Mars Exploration Program
← Sojourner Curiosity →

Opportunity, also known as MER-B (Mars Exploration Rover – B) or MER-1, is a robotic rover active on Mars since 2004.[1] Launched on July 7, 2003 as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program, it landed in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004, three weeks after its twin Spirit (MER-A) touched down on the other side of the planet.[7] With a planned 90 sol duration of activity, Spirit functioned until getting stuck in 2009 and ceased communications in 2010, while Opportunity remains active as of 2016, having already exceeded its operating plan by 12 years, 226 days (in Earth time). Opportunity has continued to move, gather scientific observations, and report back to Earth for over 50 times its designed lifespan. As of October 4, 2016, the rover had traveled 26.99 miles (43.44 km). This date was mission time of Sol (Mars days) 4514. For latest updates see bottom of page Opportunity mission timeline

Mission highlights include the initial 90 sol mission, finding extramartian meteorites such as Heat Shield Rock (Meridiani Planum meteorite), and over two years studying Victoria crater. It survived dust-storms and reached Endeavour crater in 2011, which has been described as a "second landing site".[8]

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.

Objectives

Delta II Heavy (7925H-9.5) lifting off from pad 17-B carrying MER-B in 2003 with Opportunity rover.

The scientific objectives of the Mars Exploration Rover mission are to:[9]

During the next two decades, NASA will continue to conduct missions to address whether life ever arose on Mars. The search begins with determining whether the Martian environment was ever suitable for life. Life, as we understand it, requires water, so the history of water on Mars is critical to finding out if the Martian environment was ever conducive to life. Although the Mars Exploration Rovers do not have the ability to detect life directly, they are offering very important information on the habitability of the environment in the planet's history.

Mission overview

Opportunity's landing site (denoted with a star).
Mars Global Surveyor orbiter's photograph of landing site showing "hole in one." (See also: simulation of Opportunity's trajectory on arrival at Mars in January 2004).

The primary surface mission for Opportunity was planned to last 90 sols (92 Earth days). The mission has received several extensions and has been operating for 4701 days since landing. An archive of weekly updates on the rover's status can be found at the Opportunity Update Archive.[10]

From its initial landing, by chance, into an impact crater amidst an otherwise generally flat plain, Opportunity has successfully investigated soil and rock samples and taken panoramic photos of its landing site. Its sampling allowed NASA scientists to make hypotheses concerning the presence of hematite and past presence of water on the surface of Mars. Following this, it was directed to travel across the surface of Mars to investigate another crater site, Endurance crater, which it investigated from June – December 2004. Subsequently, Opportunity examined the impact site of its own heat shield and discovered an intact meteorite, now known as Heat Shield Rock, on the surface of Mars.

From late April 2005 to early June of that year, Opportunity was perilously lodged in a sand dune, with several wheels buried in the sand. Over a six-week period Earth-based physical simulations were performed to decide how best to extract the rover from its position without risking a permanent immobilization of the valuable vehicle. Successful maneuvering a few centimeters at a time eventually freed the rover, which resumed its travels.

Opportunity was directed to proceed in a southerly direction to Erebus crater, a large, shallow, partially buried crater and a stopover on the way south towards Victoria crater, between October 2005 and March 2006. It experienced some mechanical problems with its robotic arm.

In late September 2006, Opportunity reached Victoria crater and explored along the rim in a clockwise direction. In June 2007 it returned to Duck Bay, its original arrival point; in September 2007 it entered the crater to begin a detailed study. In August 2008, Opportunity left Victoria crater for Endeavour crater, which it reached on August 9, 2011.[11]

Opportunity arrives at Endeavour crater

Here at the rim of the Endeavour crater the rover moved around a geographic feature named Cape York. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had detected phyllosilicates there, and the rover analyzed the rocks with its instruments to check this sighting on the ground. This structure was analyzed in depth until summer 2013. At May 2013 the rover was heading south to a hill named Solander Point.

Opportunity's total odometry as of June 27, 2016 (sol 4417) was 42.85 km (26.63 mi), while the dust factor is 0.725. [12] Since January 2013, the solar array dust factor (one of the determinants of solar power production) varied from a relatively dusty 0.467 on December 5, 2013 (sol 3507) to a relatively clean 0.964 on May 13, 2014 (sol 3662).[13]

In December 2014, NASA reported that Opportunity was suffering from "amnesia" events in which the rover fails to write data, e.g. telemetry information, to non-volatile memory. The hardware failure is believed to be due to an age-related fault in one of the rover's seven memory banks. As a result, NASA had aimed to force the rover's software to ignore the failed memory bank,[14] however amnesia events continued to occur which eventually resulted in vehicle resets. In light of this, on Sol 4027 (May 23, 2015), the rover was configured to operate in RAM-only mode, completely avoiding the use of non-volatile memory for storage.[15]

As of October 7, 2016, Opportunity is still roving the surface of Mars, and slated for further scientific exploration.[16]

Design and construction

Pancam Mast Assembly (PMA)

Opportunity (along with its twin, Spirit) is a six-wheeled, solar-powered robot standing 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) high, 2.3 meters (7.5 ft) wide, and 1.6 meters (5.2 ft) long and weighing 180 kilograms (400 lb). Six wheels on a rocker-bogie system enable mobility. Each wheel has its own motor, the vehicle is steered at front and rear and is designed to operate safely at tilts of up to 30 degrees. Maximum speed is 5 centimeters per second (2.0 in/s) although average speed is about a fifth of this (0.89 centimeters per second (0.35 in/s)). Both Spirit and Opportunity have pieces of the fallen World Trade Center's metal on them that were "turned into shields to protect cables on the drilling mechanisms".[17][18]

Solar arrays generate about 140 watts for up to four hours per Martian day (sol) while rechargeable lithium ion batteries store energy for use at night. Opportunity's onboard computer uses a 20 MHz RAD6000 CPU with 128 MB of DRAM, 3 MB of EEPROM, and 256 MB of flash memory. The rover's operating temperature ranges from −40 to +40 °C (−40 to 104 °F) and radioisotope heaters provide a base level of heating, assisted by electrical heaters when necessary.[19] A gold film and a layer of silica aerogel provide insulation.

Communications depends on an omnidirectional low-gain antenna communicating at a low data rate and a steerable high-gain antenna, both in direct contact with Earth. A low gain antenna is also used to relay data to spacecraft orbiting Mars.

Fixed science/engineering instruments include:

The rover arm holds the following instruments:

The cameras produce 1024-pixel by 1024-pixel images, the data is compressed with ICER, stored, and transmitted later.

The rover's name was chosen through a NASA sponsored student essay competition.

Power

Examples of watt-hours per sol collected by the rover.[20] The rover uses combination of solar cells and a rechargeable chemical battery.[21] This class of rover has two rechargeable lithium batteries with 8 amp-hour capacity.[21] At the start of the mission the solar panels could provide up to around 900 watt-hours to recharge the battery and power system in one Sol, but this can vary due to a variety of factors.[21] In Eagle crater the cells were producing about 840 watt-hours, but by Sol 319 in December 2004, it had dropped to 730 watt-hours.[22]

Because Mars takes longer than the Earth to orbit the Sun, there is a seasonal variation that reduces sunlight during Winter. This occurs roughly once every 2 Earth years.[23] By 2016, MER-B had endured seven Martian winters, during which times power levels drop which can mean the rover avoids doing activities that use a lot of power.[23] During its first winter power levels dropped to under 300 watt-hours per day for two months, but some later winters were not as bad.[23]

Another factor that can reduce received power is dust in the atmosphere, especially dust storms.[24] Dust storms have occurred most frequently when Mars is closest to the Sun.[24] Global dust storms in 2007 reduced power levels for Opportunity and Spirit so much they could only run for a few minutes each day.[24] It is predicted that dust storms will hit later in 2016 also.[24]

Opportunity solar array energy production (2013-2014)
Date Watt-hours
Sol 3376 (July 23, 2013)
431
Sol 3384 (July 31, 2013)
395
Sol 3390 (August 6, 2013)
385
Sol 3430 (September 16, 2013)
346
Sol 3452 (October 9, 2013)
325
Sol 3472 (October 30, 2013)
299
Sol 3478 (November 5, 2013)
311
Sol 3494 (November 21, 2013)
302
Sol 3507 (December 5, 2013)
270
Sol 3534 (January 1, 2014)
371
Sol 3602 (March 12, 2014)
498
Sol 3606 (March 16, 2014)
615
Sol 3621 (April 1, 2014)
661
Sol 3676 (May 27, 2014)
764
Sol 3710 (July 1, 2014)
745
Sol 3744 (Aug. 5, 2014)
686
Sol 3771 (Sept. 2, 2014)
713
Sol 3805 (Oct. 7, 2014)
640
Sol 3834 (Nov. 6, 2014)
505
Sol 3859 (Dec. 1, 2014)
468
Opportunity solar array energy production (2015-2016)
Date Watt-hours
Sol 3894 (Jan. 6, 2015)
438
Sol 3921 (Feb. 3, 2015)
484
Sol 3948 (Mar. 3, 2015)
545
Sol 3982 (Apr. 7, 2015)
559
Sol 4010 (May 5, 2015)
508
Sol 4055 (Jun. 21, 2015)
477
Sol 4084 (Jul. 20, 2015)
432
Sol 4119 (Aug. 25, 2015)
404
Sol 4153 (Sept. 29, 2015)
352
Sol 4180 (Oct. 27, 2015)
332
Sol 4201 (Nov. 18, 2015)
376
Sol 4221 (Dec. 8, 2015)
407
Sol 4377 (May. 16, 2016)
672

Launch

Opportunity's launch was managed by NASA's Launch Services Program. This was the first launch of the Delta II Heavy. The launch period went from June 25 to July 15, 2003. The first launch attempt occurred on June 28, 2003, but the spacecraft launched nine days later on July 7, 2003 due to delays for range safety and winds, then later to replace items on the rocket (insulation and a battery). Each day had two instantaneous launch opportunities. On the day of launch, the launch was delayed to the second opportunity (11:18 p.m. EDT) in order to fix a valve.[25]

Scientific findings

MER-B has studied the Western rim since 2011

Opportunity has provided substantial evidence in support of the mission's primary scientific goals: to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. In addition to investigating the water, Opportunity has also obtained astronomical observations and atmospheric data.

Honors

Opportunity rover - Driving Distance "Off-World" Record (NASA; July 28, 2014).[26][27]

Honoring Opportunity's great contribution to the exploration of Mars, an asteroid was named Opportunity— 39382 Opportunity.[28] The name was proposed by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld who, along with Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Tom Gehrels, discovered the asteroid on September 24, 1960. Opportunity's lander is Challenger Memorial Station.[29]

On July 28, 2014, it was announced that Opportunity, having traversed over 40 km (25 mi), had become the rover achieving the longest off-world distance, surpassing the previous record of 39 km (24 mi) on the Moon by Lunokhod 2.[26][27]

On March 24, 2015, NASA celebrated Opportunity having traveled the distance of a Marathon race, 42.195 kilometers, from the start of Opportunity's landing and travelling on Mars.[30]

Images

The rover can take pictures with its different cameras, but only the PanCam camera has the ability to photograph a scene with different color filters. The panorama views are usually built up from PanCam images. As of November 20, 2013, Opportunity had returned 186,246 pictures.[31]

This map, color-coded for minerals (CRISM) and annotated, shows the rover's traverse up to about 2010 with some nearby features noted

Views

Opportunity views the empty lander, the Challenger Memorial Station. 
Pancam view from August 2012 (Sol 3058) 
Solander Point is visible on the horizon; foreground shows Botany Bay.[32] 
Opportunity on a Martian crater (simulated view). 

Panoramas

A selection of panoramas from the mission:

Panorama at crater triplet, all three craters in right half of image, Naturaliste Crater in foreground.
Panorama taken on the rim of Erebus crater. The rover's solar panels are seen on the lower half
Fram crater on Sol 88, April 24, 2004
Opportunity's view from Cape Tribulation on the rim of Endeavour Crater, January 22, 2015.
In May 2015 the rover visited what was dubbed Spirit of St. Louis Crater, a shallow crater about 110 feet (34 meters) long and 80 feet (24 meters) across. In its center is Lindbergh Mound, about 2-3 meters (yards) high. This version of the panorma is annotated and in false color[33]

Microscopic images

"Blueberries" (hematite spheres) on a rocky outcrop at Eagle Crater. Note the merged triplet in the upper left. 
"Newberries": This view displays an area about 6 centimeters across. It was taken at an outcrop named Kirkwood at the Cape York on the rim of Endeavour crater on Mars. The spheres seen here are about 3 millimeters in diameter. The Microscopic Imager took this image at the 3064 sol. 

From orbit

Opportunity landing site, lander, as imaged by MRO
(November 29, 2006) 
Opportunity landing site, parachute and backshell, as imaged by MRO (November 29, 2006) 
Opportunity landing site, heat shield, as imaged by MRO
(November 29, 2006) 
Opportunity (circled) as seen by HiRISE on January 29, 2009. Endeavour Crater is 17 km (11 mi) away. 

Maps

Opportunity landing ellipse in Meridiani Planum, near Endeavour crater 
Opportunity traverse map, from Sol 405 to 528 (2005) 
Opportunity traverse map, from sol 1 (2004) through sol 2055 (2009) 
Annotated Opportunity traverse map as of December 8, 2010 (Sol 2442) 
Annotated Opportunity traverse map as of June 11, 2014 (Sol 3689) 
Opportunity's traverse on Cape York from Sol 2678 to Sol 3317 with some additional annotations of the main features. 

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Nelson, Jon. "Mars Exploration Rover - Opportunity". NASA. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Launch Event Details – When did the Rovers Launch?". Retrieved April 25, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Mars Exploration Rover project, NASA/JPL document NSS ISDC 2001 27/05/2001" (PDF). p. 5. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  4. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2003). "Jonathan's Space Report No. 504". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  5. ↑ Staff. "Mapping the Mars Rovers' Landing Sites". Esri. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status_opportunityAll.html
  7. ↑ "Spirit" landed on January 4, 2004.
  8. ↑ "Opportunity on verge of new discovery". wustl.edu.
  9. ↑ "Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Science". nasa.gov.
  10. ↑ "Opportunity Update Archive". NASA/JPL. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  11. ↑ "NASA - NASA Mars Rover Arrives at New Site on Martian Surface". Nasa.gov. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  12. ↑ http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status_opportunityAll.html#sol4413
  13. ↑ "Opportunity Updates". Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ O'Neill, Ian (29 December 2014). "Mars Rover Opportunity Suffers Worrying Bouts of 'Amnesia'". Web article. Discovery News. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "Opportunity Update Archive, sols 4024-4029, May 20, 2015-May 25, 2015".
  16. ↑ NASA's Opportunity Rover to Explore Mars Gully
  17. ↑ Chang, Kenneth (November 7, 2004). "Martian Robots, Taking Orders From a Manhattan Walk-Up". The New York Times. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
  18. ↑ Squyres, Steve (2005). Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet. Hyperion Press. pp. 113–117. ISBN 978-1-4013-0149-1.
  19. ↑ "MER - Batteries and Heaters". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  20. ↑ "All Opportunity Status Updates". Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  21. 1 2 3
  22. ↑
  23. 1 2 3
  24. 1 2 3 4
  25. ↑ Harwood, William (July 8, 2003). "Opportunity launched to Mars". SPACEFLIGHT NOW. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  26. 1 2 Webster, Guy; Brown, Dwayne (July 28, 2014). "NASA Long-Lived Mars Opportunity Rover Sets Off-World Driving Record". NASA. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  27. 1 2 Knapp, Alex (July 29, 2014). "NASA's Opportunity Rover Sets A Record For Off-World Driving". Forbes. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  28. ↑ "Mars Exploration Rover Mission; "Like Rover, Like Asteroid"". Retrieved June 9, 2008.
  29. ↑ "Space Shuttle Challenger Crew Memorialized on Mars". Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  30. ↑ "The First Martian Marathon - NASA Science". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  31. ↑ Truong, Brian. "Mars Exploration Rover". nasa.gov.
  32. ↑ "Opportunity's View in 'Botany Bay' Toward 'Solander Point'". NASA.
  33. ↑ Martian Reminder of a Pioneering Flight
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mars Exploration Rover.
Acidalia Planitia Acidalia Planitia Alba Mons Amazonis Planitia Aonia Terra Arabia Terra Arcadia Planitia Arcadia Planitia Argyre Planitia Elysium Mons Elysium Planitia Hellas Planitia Hesperia Planum Isidis Planitia Lucas Planum Lyot Crater Noachis Terra Olympus Mons Promethei Terra Rudaux Crater Solis Planum Tempe Terra Terra Cimmeria Terra Sabaea Terra Sirenum Tharsis Montes Utopia Planitia Valles Marineris Vastitas Borealis Vastitas BorealisMap of Mars
Interactive imagemap of the global topography of Mars, overlain with locations of Mars landers and rovers (Red label = Rover; Blue label = Lander; bold red/blue = currently active). Hover your mouse to see the names of over 25 prominent geographic features, and click to link to them. Coloring of the base map indicates relative elevations, based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Reds and pinks are higher elevation (+3 km to +8 km); yellow is 0 km; greens and blues are lower elevation (down to −8 km). Whites (>+12 km) and browns (>+8 km) are the highest elevations. Axes are latitude and longitude; Poles are not shown.
(also see Memorials & Mars Memorials map) (view • discuss)
← Beagle 2 (2003)
Curiosity (2012) →
Deep Space 2 (1999) →
Mars 2 (1971) →
← Mars 3 (1971)
Mars 6 (1973) →
Polar Lander (1999) ↓
↑ Opportunity (2004)
← Phoenix (2008)
Schiaparelli EDM (2016) →
← Sojourner (1997)
Spirit (2004) ↑
Viking 1 (1976) →
Viking 2 (1976) →
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