Opportunity Rover

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 ancient water. The rover explored the Martian terrain for almost 15 years, far outlasting her planned 90-day mission.

After landing on Mars in 2004, Opportunity 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 Mission Control 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.

Learn more about Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit