After falling silent eight months ago during a severe dust storm that swept across the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Opportunity rover has been officially declared dead. NASA made the announcement Wednesday during an emotional media briefing at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The agency said it had ended its efforts to communicate with Opportunity after sending more than 1,000 radio signals its way, including some just last night. "I was there yesterday and I was there with the team as these commands went out into the deep sky, and I learned this morning that we had not heard back," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in the briefing. "Opportunity remains silent." The Opportunity rover landed on Mars in January 2004, on a mission to search for clues of past water activity on the Red Planet. Artist's conception by NASA/JPL-Caltech John Callas, project manager for the Opportunity mission, said last year's dust storm was so intense that it blackened the sky, keeping sunlight from reaching Opportunity's solar panels and starving the spacecraft of energy. Callas reminisced about the mission's early days and spoke fondly about "bonding" with the rover as it was being assembled at the Jet Propulsion Lab. "Even though it’s a machine and we’re saying goodbye, it's still very hard and very poignant," he said in the briefing. Opportunity touched down on Mars on Jan. 25, 2004. During the 15 years it spent trundling across the planet, the rover provided evidence confirming that water once flowed on the Martian surface — suggesting that Mars might once have been habitable — and beamed back a series of stark photos of the barren landscape. The golf cart-sized rover also set a record for off-world driving, clocking a total of 28 miles. Opportunity and a twin rover, Spirit, which reached Mars on Jan. 4, 2004, were designed to operate for only 90 days. But both rovers far outlived their planned missions. Spirit got stuck in Martian sand in 2009, and NASA ended its mission in 2011 after losing contact with the rover. The rover duo leaves behind an important legacy, in particular showing the value of equipping rovers with tools and instruments that let them act as roving geologists, said Jennifer Trosper, a systems engineer for NASA's upcoming Mars 2020 mission, which next year will send a new rover to search for evidence of past life on the Red Planet. "We took everything that we needed, we put it on wheels and we made a geologist that could go investigate the things the science team was interested in," Trosper said. Both Spirit and Opportunity were stepping stones for the planned Mars 2020 mission, influencing decisions about where the new rover should land and what it should investigate. "These two rovers really did change the way we think about doing planetary science on the surface of other planets," said Lori Glaze, acting director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. Before Spirit and Opportunity, NASA sent the Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover to Mars on a mission to conduct chemical and atmospheric experiments on the Red Planet. Pathfinder and Sojourner landed on Mars in July 1997, and the rover spent 83 days exploring the Martian surface. NASA now has one active rover on Mars. The car-sized Curiosity rover arrived in August 2012 and has driven more than 12 miles so far. Want more stories about Mars? FOLLOW NBC NEWS MACH ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND INSTAGRAM.<doc-sep>One of the great exploration stories of our time is officially over. NASA declared its Opportunity Mars rover dead today (Feb. 13), more than eight months after the solar-powered robot went silent during a raging dust storm on the Red Planet — and a day after the final calls to wake Oppy up went unanswered. "I declare the Opportunity mission as complete, and with it the Mars Exploration Rover mission complete," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said today during an event at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. [ Mars Dust Storm 2018: What It Means for Opportunity Rover ] Opportunity roamed the Martian surface for nearly a decade and a half, covering more than a marathon's worth of ground and finding conclusive evidence that the Red Planet hosted large bodies of liquid water in the ancient past. The golf-cart-size rover and its twin, Spirit , also helped bring Mars down to Earth, in the minds of scientists and laypeople alike. Spirit and Opportunity "have made Mars a familiar place," Opportunity project manager John Callas, of JPL, told Space.com last year, a few months after the dust storm flared up. "When we say, 'our world,' we're no longer just talking about the Earth. We have to include parts of Mars as well." Artist's illustration of NASA's Opportunity on the surface of Mars, which touched down on the Red Planet in January 2004. (Image credit: NASA/JPL) Follow the water Spirit and Opportunity launched separately in the summer of 2003, kicking off the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, and landed a few weeks apart in January 2004. Spirit came down first, settling in at a crater called Gusev situated about 14 degrees south of the Martian equator. Opportunity landed on the equatorial plain Meridiani Planum, on the other side of the planet from Gusev. Both rovers then embarked on surface missions designed to last for about 90 Earth days, during which they hunted for signs of past water activity. Such evidence had previously been spotted from above — by NASA's Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters, for example, which photographed what appeared to be ancient river channels on the Red Planet's dusty surface. But Opportunity nailed it down. "It conclusively established the presence of persistent surface liquid water on Mars ," Callas said. "We'd always speculated about it, and we'd seen evidence, but the mineral signature was confirmed by Opportunity." Data the rover gathered during its extensive travels also showed that "we're not just talking about a puddle or a pond, but at least kilometer-scale bodies of water on the surface of Mars," he added. And Opportunity's analyses of clay minerals on the planet's surface indicated that at least some of this ancient water, which flowed between 4 billion and 3.5 billion years ago, had a relatively neutral pH. That is, it wasn't overly acidic or basic. "So, I'd say the rover established the physical habitability of Mars at the time life started on Earth," Callas said. Spirit was no slouch in this regard, either. The rover uncovered an ancient hydrothermal system at Gusev, for instance, showing that at least some parts of Mars had both liquid water and an energy source that life could tap into for stretches in the ancient past. [ 10 Amazing Mars Discoveries by Rovers Spirit & Opportunity ] "Spirit’s contributions and discoveries were every bit as significant as Opportunity's," mission scientific principal investigator Steve Squyres, a professor of physical sciences at Cornell University in New York, told Space.com. Later missions confirmed and extended such findings. For example, NASA's Curiosity rover has determined that the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater hosted a long-lived, potentially habitable lake-and-stream system about 4 billion years ago. Breaking records Both Spirit and Opportunity kept roving long after their warranties expired. Spirit finally got bogged down in a sand trap in early 2010. As a result, the rover couldn't reorient itself to catch the sun during the approaching Martian winter and essentially froze to death. Opportunity avoided such pitfalls for eight additional years, studying rocks on the rims of four different craters, as well as the Meridiani Planum flats. The rover put 28.06 miles (45.16 km) on its odometer during these travels — more than any other vehicle, robotic or crewed, has traveled on the surface of another world. Then came the dust storm. In late May 2018, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter saw a storm brewing near Opportunity's locale, on the rim of the 14-mile-wide (22 km) Endeavour Crater. The maelstrom grew quickly, engulfing the rover and eventually spreading to enshroud the entire planet. The thick, sunlight-blocking dust prevented the rover from recharging its batteries, and Opportunity went into a sort of hibernation. And it slept without being able to fire up its onboard heaters — a dangerous proposition on frigid Mars, where temperatures can drop enough to break soldering joints and other important pieces of internal hardware . Something bad apparently did happen: Opportunity hasn't made a peep since June 10 . "Opportunity likely experienced a low-power fault, a mission clock fault and an up-loss timer fault," mission team members wrote in a December update . "We needed a historic dust storm to finish this historic mission," MER deputy project scientist Abigail Fraeman, of JPL, said during today's event. Giving Opportunity a chance The dust storm started to die down in late July, and by mid-September it had abated so much that NASA began a concerted effort to rouse Opportunity. This "active listening" campaign involved sending commands to the silent rover and listening for any peeps it may have made on its own. It was important to continue this campaign for several months , NASA officials and rover team members said, because the windy season in Opportunity's locale began in November. The hope was that strong breezes would clean some of the dust off the rover's solar panels, allowing Opportunity to recharge its batteries and wake up at long last. This has not happened, however, and it apparently never will. So, for the first time in 15 years, we'll just have to get used to a world — or two worlds, rather — without Opportunity.<doc-sep>NASA/JPL/Cornell University NASA's Opportunity rover, the third robotic wanderer to land on Mars, changed our understanding of the Martian landscape, geology, atmosphere and history. On Wednesday, NASA announced its mission complete and with it, the rover's life officially over. The plucky robot roamed the Martian surface for approximately 5,515 Earth days, just over 15 years. During a press conference, NASA said that Opportunity hadn't responded to a last-ditch effort Tuesday to establish contact. A planet-encircling dust storm cut off communications with Opportunity on June 10, 2018, preventing its solar panels from storing power. Since then, over 830 rescue commands had been beamed to the rover. On Tuesday night, despite the transmission of commands and Billie Holiday's I'll Be Seeing You to Mars via the Deep Space Network, the rover couldn't be roused. "I learned this morning that we had not heard back," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said during a press conference. "It is therefore that I am standing here with a sense of deep appreciation and gratitude [and] I declare the Opportunity mission as complete," he concluded. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine shared his thoughts on Twitter, as did many emotional space fans. After 800+ attempts to contact @MarsRovers Opportunity, today we’re announcing the end of a successful Martian mission. Intended to explore the Red Planet for 90 days, Oppy outlived its mission lifetime by 14+ years. Join us live now: https://t.co/zJwTTpQNwp #ThanksOppy pic.twitter.com/U4J26TfzDv — Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) February 13, 2019 Opportunity's story is one of resilience, discovery and wonder. It's a record-breaker, a testament to the prowess of the engineers, scientists and leaders at NASA who built, worked on and piloted the rover for over 14 years. Its final resting spot lies on the western edge of the Endeavour crater, in a gully the science team dubbed Perseverance Valley. Now playing: Watch this: 'Overachieving' Mars rover Opportunity mission over after... The rover launched on July 7, 2003, and landed in Meridiani Planum on Mars on Jan. 25, 2004. Its original mission was intended to last just over three months, but the hardy rover continued to roam across the Martian soil for nearly 15 years, traveling 28.06 miles (around 45 kilometers) -- the farthest distance achieved by any extra-planetary robot. It was the second of twin rovers sent to the planet in 2003 as part of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. The first rover, Spirit, became stuck in a sand trap in 2009. NASA officially announced its mission complete in 2011. Opportunity made several landmark discoveries on Mars, chancing upon the first meteorite found on another planet, revealing that Meridiani Planum was once immersed in water, studying over 100 impact craters and delivering countless stunning panoramas of a planet nearly 34 million miles away. After landing in 2004, the golf-cart-sized robot began its journey to Endurance crater, spending six months performing an extensive investigation of the bedrock and sand dunes. Opportunity would move on to study the roughly half-mile-wide (730 meters) Victoria crater between 2006 and 2008, revealing how water had entered and left the region billions of years ago. In 2011, it reached Endeavour, an impact crater 13.7 miles wide, after three years of travel. It discovered a bright mineral vein of gypsum. At the time, Steve Squyres, a principal investigator on the mission, said, "This tells a slam-dunk story that water flowed through underground fractures in the rock." It also snapped an image of the infamous "dust devils," whirlwinds that occasionally arise on the Martian surface. Its journey was not without some scares. In 2005, Opportunity got mired in a dune -- a fate that had crippled and eventually claimed its robotic twin. On Earth, NASA worked to mimic the Martian soil before executing careful maneuvers to free Opportunity. The rover weathered its first dust storm in 2007, wrestled with intermittent wheel problems and labored with a problematic robotic arm throughout its expedition. NASA/JPL-Caltech Still, it seemed that nothing could knock out the intrepid robotic explorer. On its 5,000th Martian day, it celebrated with its first selfie. Opportunity will remain dormant in Perseverance Valley, occasionally being spied by a passing orbiter -- or perhaps, in the distant future, retrieved and idolized as a pioneer that pointed the way for the first humans to reach, and even settle on, Mars. "It is because of trailblazing missions such as Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave astronauts walk on the surface of Mars," Bridenstine said. The robot is survived by NASA's Curiosity rover, which remains the only active rover on the Martian surface. It will be joined by NASA's planned Mars 2020 rover and Rosalind Franklin, the European Space Agency's rover, set to launch in 2020. NASA turns 60: The space agency has taken humanity farther than anyone else, and it has plans to go further. Taking It to Extremes: Mix insane situations -- erupting volcanoes, nuclear meltdowns, 30-foot waves -- with everyday tech. Here's what happens.<doc-sep>
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity Is Officially Declared Dead Enlarge this image toggle caption NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA/JPL-Caltech Opportunity lost. NASA has officially declared an end to the mission of the six-wheeled rover on Mars. Opportunity lost power in a dust storm last June, and all efforts to make contact have failed. "Our beloved Opportunity remained silent," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said Wednesday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "With a sense of deep appreciation and gratitude," he added, "I declare the Opportunity mission as complete." The plucky robot operated on the red planet for more than 14 years — an astonishing achievement, given that the mission was technically supposed to last only 90 days. The rover drove more than 25 miles, returned thousands of pictures and changed the way scientists think about Mars. On landing day in January 2004, scientists were positively giddy about what they saw in the first pictures Opportunity sent after touching down at Meridiani Planum. toggle caption NASA/JPL "I will attempt no science analysis because it looks like nothing I've ever seen before in my life," rover principal investigator Steven W. Squyres said during a news conference at JPL shortly after landing. "We knew, going into this, at a fine scale the texture of Meridiani Planum was unlike almost anything else on Mars. As we had expected ..." Squyres stopped midsentence to gawk at a new picture of the landing site that had just appeared on a monitor screen. "Holy smokes," he exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I'm just blown away by this." In the weeks, then months, then years following landing, Squyres appeared at numerous news conferences to talk about the rover's scientific discoveries. Asked last summer to share two of his favorites, he said, "OK, I'll give you two. The first was right at the beginning at the landing site." That's when Opportunity found evidence that briny water once sloshed around on the surface of what is now a very dry planet. The second "was years and years later [when] we got to the rim of a very ancient crater," Squyres said. The robot found evidence of what's called hydrothermal events in which hot water percolates through rocks and changes their mineral content. But last summer, the planet that gave up so many of its secrets smothered the rover. Enlarge this image toggle caption NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA/JPL-Caltech On May 30, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a dust storm heading toward Opportunity's location near the equator. Over the next few days, the enormous storm swirled over the entire planet, covering Opportunity's solar panels with dust. "The storm is one of the most intense ever observed on the Red Planet. As of June 10, it covered more than 15.8 million square miles (41 million square kilometers) — about the area of North America and Russia combined," NASA said at the time. "It has blocked out so much sunlight, it has effectively turned day into night for Opportunity, which is located near the center of the storm, inside Mars' Perseverance Valley." Her power dropped to a trickle, and she was last heard from on June 10. (Opportunity's twin, a rover named Spirit that landed three weeks earlier on the other side of the planet, met a similar cold and dark fate. Spirit explored for more than five years before getting stuck in the sand, its solar-powered batteries draining until the robot fell silent.) "I made the decision to declare a spacecraft emergency because there wasn't enough energy for the rover to sustain activities," John Callas, Opportunity's project manager, told NPR. "Prior to this storm, the vehicle was in, actually, remarkably good health," Callas said. Mission managers weren't exactly sure what was wrong with the rover. Opportunity survived a planetwide dust storm in 2007 — but this time, with so little power, the rover might not have been able to protect electronic instruments from damage during the cold Martian nights. Instead of waiting for the rover to wake up on its own, managers have spent the past several months pinging Opportunity with commands. But she remained silent and still in Perseverance Valley. On Tuesday, scientists at JPL announced that there would be one final attempt to ping the rover. Keri Bean was among those who helped send that last radio signal. Losing Opportunity, she says, is like a death in the family. Bean was in high school when she saw a documentary about Opportunity called Roving Mars.