A Journey on Mars over 5000 days (THE OPPORTUNITY AND SPIRIT ROVERS)

Image: PICRYL

This journey started on July 7th, 2003. On this day, two rovers named Spirit and Opportunity were sent by NASA to Mars. After a journey of almost six months, on January 24, 2004, these two rovers reached Mars. But these did not reach Mars so easily. 

Geologist Steve Squyres petitioned NASA to send two rovers to Mars. However, NASA did not accept his request for ten years. After that, somehow, he was offered a chance by NASA. But they gave him only two years to design the rovers. This is because Earth and Mars pass side by side only once every two years. 

So a huge team was appointed under the leadership of Steve Squires, and work started quickly. In their hard work, two rovers called opportunity and spirit were created. Both of them are similar in shape and size. Both of them were sent to space on January 7, 2003. Both reached Mars on January 24, 2004, as previously reported. 

The six-minute time between getting into the atmosphere of Mars and reaching its ground is critical for every spacecraft. Because no spacecraft that has been sent before has landed safely on Mars. So, at that time, many people were not confident in that project.

These two rovers did not send any messages for the first 10 minutes after entering the atmosphere of Mars. In those ten minutes, the scientists who were controlling it were shocked very much. But after that, messages started coming from both the rovers. So, the scientists made sure that both of them landed safely. 

The main reason for sending these Rovers to Mars is to find whether there is any existence of water or not. These two rovers used energy from the sun's light to move. 

Image: GetArchive

The Spirit rover was sent to a crater called Gusev, where a lake is believed to have existed in earlier times. At the same time, the Opportunity rover was sent to the Meridiani Planum, a crater believed to be rich in minerals. These two craters are at opposite poles on Mars. These are the places from which a long journey started on Mars.

Beginning of the journey:

Both of these rovers were moving at a slower speed of 5 centimeters per second. 

Spirit Rover was sent to Gusev Crater to find any evidence for the existence of a lake. But it found only some volcanic rocks there. But, without giving up the effort, the spirit continued its journey towards the Columbia Hills. 

 Picture of Columbia Hills on Mars 
Image: wikimedia commons

On this side, the opportunity rover found small hematite stones. These stones are made of iron. Also, these types of stones would have formed only if there was water. Thus, Opportunity discovered the first sign of water on Mars. And on its 20th day on Mars, it sent a photo of the sun setting. On this planet, the sunset appears in blue.

Picture of sunset on mars

Both of these rovers were designed for a 90-day journey to Mars. But these two rovers traveled to Mars beyond 90 days. During the first 90 days, scientists began to track these rovers, forgetting even their sleep.

On the 78th day, due to the extreme cold, the spirit had been affected, and the communication between the earth and the rover had been disconnected. But our scientists fixed that too. 

On Mars, due to frequent storms, some dust particles have begun to settle on the solar boards on both rovers. But small cyclones called dust devils swept the dust away.

The atmosphere of Mars contains only 1% of Earth's atmosphere. Therefore, the planet cannot retain much heat. Due to this, the night is very cold on that planet. During these times, the batteries in the rovers helped them by providing some heat.

Even after 90 days, the two spies continued their journey. 

The journey continues......    

Opportunity, which started its journey from gusev crater, reached Endurance crater on its 131st day. At this location, it was discovered the existence of water. But that was slightly acidic. From there, it started its journey on its 315th day and after almost two years, it reached the victoria crater, 6 km away.

 

Picture of victoria crater
Image: Flickr

At this location the opportunity rover discovered a substance called gypsum. These gypsum molecules form only at the bottom of the water. 

At this time the spirit rover was continuing his journey in the Columbia Hills. While climbing the hill, one of its front wheels were failed. So, turning back and dragging the dead wheel, the spirit started to climb the hill.

The end of spirit :  

By this time on Mars, winter had begun. This seasons is twice as cold as the winter on earth. On day 1220, Mars was surrounded by a dust storm. So, with only 4% sunlight, both spies got. 

So, our scientists sent information to both rovers to send messages only once a day, to save the energy in the batteries of the rovers. 

Even so, the spirit spy could not hold out for long. In 2011, due to low battery power, the Spirit lost contact with Earth and became completely inactive. We must express our gratitude to this rover, which gave us much information about Mars. 

Opportunity survived the dust storm and escaped its success fully. On that planet, the rover was alone now. But it didn't give up and continued its journey.

Starting its journey from the crater, the rover traveled nearly 21 kilometers and reached Endeavor crater after seven years. On the way, many different types of meteorites were found. At this point, the Rover's memory began to fail. Aren't these things happening to us as we age? It's like that. 

Picture of Endeavor crater
Image: PICRYL

End of opportunity rover :   

With the help of satellites, scientistsdiscovered a river-like structure near the site of Opportunity, called Gully. So opportunity continued his journey to that area. But now Mars is again surrounded by dust storms. It was twice as strong as the previous storm. 

So even 1% of sunlight couldn'treach the solar board of the Rover. And the power in its battery started to decrease gradually. Because of this, the Opportunity rover, which had traveled beyond 5200 days, was completely shutdown. After the storm cleared, our scientists sent almost thousands of pieces of data to this spy. But no response was received. 

Before shutting down, the rover had sent one last message, along with a photograph of the sky. The information it sent is as follows: 

"MY BATTERY IS LOW,

AND IT'S GETTING DARK."

Thus, in 2019, after 5200 days, the life of a rover named Opportunity, which traveled alone on a planet, ends.

It was sent to explore Mars for just 90 days. But ithas completed 5000 days, discovered many evidences of water on Mars, spent several days alone, and made a great achievement. 

So....

At any stage of life, we should never give up our efforts.

This is a great lesson taught us by the machine opportunity.