Nasa says farewell to the little Mars rover that could
Nasa engineers lost contact with the solar-powered vehicle, Opportunity, on June 10 during a dust storm that encircled Mars
Los Angeles — Opportunity, a remarkably durable Nasa rover designed to roll along the surface of Mars for three months, has stopped communicating with Earth after 15 years of service, officials said on Wednesday, ending a mission that astounded the US space agency. Engineers lost contact with the solar-powered vehicle on June 10 during a dust storm that encircled Mars. Since then, Nasa officials made numerous attempts to reach the six-wheeled rover, which is about the size of a golf cart. Opportunity's equipment may have been compromised by the storm, which struck while the rover was at a site called Perseverance Valley and blotted out sunlight needed by the robot's solar panels, officials said. The vehicle was built to drive 1km, but ended up covering 45km and lasting longer on Mars than any other robot sent to the surface of the Red Planet. On Tuesday, engineers sent a transmission in a last attempt to revive the rover, but heard nothing back, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate admi...
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