The remarkable life and bittersweet end of NASA's Opportunity rover

After a remarkable 15 years on Mars, the story of NASA's Opportunity rover is coming to a bittersweet end.

First launched in 2003 along with its twin Spirit, Opportunity landed on Mars' surface in Jan. 2004, with a mission that was intended to last 90 days. See Opportunity's initial launch below:

Both of the "Adventure Twins," as NASA affectionately dubbed the rovers, made it far longer than anyone expected: NASA ended Spirit's mission on May 25, 2011, over seven years after it began. And now, Ars Technica reports, NASA is ending Opportunity's mission, too.

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In June 2018, a dust storm on the surface of Mars caused NASA to lose contact with Opportunity; since it operates by solar power, dust blocking out the sun or coating its panels could keep it from turning on. But in the months since then, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has worked tirelessly to try to regain the signal of its lost rover. In all, over 835 commands were sent by the JPL team, in the hopes that wind would clear the solar panels of dust and Opportunity would be able to reboot and function again.

Late Tuesday night, JPL sent one final message: the Billie Holiday song "I'll Be Seeing You." Still, there was no response — so this chapter of extraterrestrial exploration is closed. On Wednesday afternoon, NASA is expected to officially end Opportunity's mission, a whopping 5,352 sols (Martian days) after it began.

Opportunity has provided us with groundbreaking evidence, NASA states, including the stunning fact that at sometime in Mars' history, the planet may have been suitable for microbial life. It's also given us stunning views of Mars' surface, the likes of which had never before been seen by human eyes.

Now, NASA's Curiosity rover and InSight rover will take over the mission. They will have some very impressive wheel tracks to follow.

Read more about Opportunity at Ars Technica, and see more photos from Mars on NASA's website.