The End of the Opportunity Rover

[Heloin]

A poem from one Martian, to another.

[Bombadil]

I hope one of them is called Cat, and has lasers and goes rogue and destroys Curiosity cos then we'd say 'looks like Cat killed the Curiosity'.

The European/Russian one is going to be named Rosalind Franklin, so I guess your only hope is to start sending in your suggestion to NASA for names for Mars 2020.

I'll get right on it.

"Dear NASA,

Would it be possible to name the second Mars rover for 2020 'Cat'? And for no particular reason can you add a laser and give me access to the programming?

Yours in very good faith,

Bombadil"

[Sapientia Et Bellum]

I know this is about Mars and all but im just gonna put this right here for the hell of it

P u t A n o t h e r M a n O n T h e M o o n

Please, the flag needs replaced

[Heloin]

I know this is about Mars and all but im just gonna put this right here for the hell of it

P u t A n o t h e r M a n O n T h e M o o n

Please, the flag needs replaced

[Luziyca]

I hope that there will be more Opportunities to study Mars after Curiosity gets killed by... Mars dust or something?

[Olthar]

Who else thinks that when we finally colonize Mars, a statue of Oppy should be erected where it stopped working?

I think it would make more sense to erect a statue to honor all of the Martian rovers that lead to the eventual colonization.

[Dogmeat]

Goodnight, sweet bot.

And flights of satellites sing thee to thy rest.

[Yusseria]

"My battery is low....and it's getting dark"

That was the last message they received, I had to look that up to make sure.

That is incredibly sad. Sounds like an Isaac Asimov story...

Never in my life did I think I would feel such sadness for a piece of machinery.

Rest easy, little one. You served America well.

[Valrifell]

If NSG ran a country, it’s be a more failed state than Somalia.

...
...

I'm gonna make a thread based on this.


But where'd it go?

P2TM?

This concept has

1. Existed as the NSG Senate and
2. Traditionally lived in NSG until it was moved to F7 and quietly died some time ago.

[Internationalist Bastard]

ROVER NOOOOOO

[Cannot think of a name]

In my 'clearly this is not how things work' mind I keep thinking Curiosity could cruise by and give Opportunity a little dust off to get it going again. Then I remember big planet, rovers aren't that fast, and they don't work like Tex Avery cartoons.

[New Unithonia]

We should mount a rescue mission. Just don't tell Elon, he'll be calling everyone at NASA paedophiles for years.

Alas his space Tesla is already making a u-turn.. he doesn't want to miss this opportunity.

This is so off topic, but I just realized what your nation is and I said "oh" and starting laughing so hard in the middle of class

Tom Bombadil is king

[Pax Nerdvana]

Rust in peace, trusty rover. You exceeded your mission goals by several miles.

[Kannap]

I totally agree, Opportunity was a great achievement. Rest in peace, buddy. Maybe, someday soon, we can dust you off and give you an honored place in the Martian Museum of Technology.

WAIT A MINUTE SOMEBODY I JUST NOTICED THIS WAS A COMIC FOR THE SPIRIT ROVER.

Somebody tweeted it yesterday and I thought it was for Opportunity, I've been deceived. Though I guess you can just imagine the plaque at the end reads "Opportunity"

[Heloin]

I totally agree, Opportunity was a great achievement. Rest in peace, buddy. Maybe, someday soon, we can dust you off and give you an honored place in the Martian Museum of Technology.

WAIT A MINUTE SOMEBODY I JUST NOTICED THIS WAS A COMIC FOR THE SPIRIT ROVER.

Somebody tweeted it yesterday and I thought it was for Opportunity, I've been deceived. Though I guess you can just imagine the plaque at the end reads "Opportunity"

We forgive you!

He also made one for Oppy years ago: https://xkcd.com/1504/

[Reploid Productions]

A poem from one Martian, to another.

God damnit, I thought I'd gotten my tears done and over with yesterday about this. Glad to know I'm not the only one out there being ridiculously sentimental about a robot. (Then again, I also teared up pretty good watching the NASA livestream of Cassini's grand finale, so....)

I think it would make more sense to erect a statue to honor all of the Martian rovers that lead to the eventual colonization.

I could totally get behind this. Mars rovers have come a VERY long way since tiny little Sojourner in the 90s. I remember how completely blown away I was in high school reading an article about the Pathfinder mission in Sky & Telescope and seeing the pictures from the lander and the rover. Seriously, this as a glorious glossy two-page spread was incredible. And with every subsequent mission that same sense of awe hits me in the feels all over again when the pictures start coming in. Hit me with Spirit and Oppy's mission began and throughout, ditto when Curiosity safely arrived, and I'm sure it will again when the Mars 2020 mission begins.

Man. RIP Oppy, the little rover that just wouldn't quit. Maybe one day a future Mars mission will be able to find the remains.

[The Huskar Social Union]

R.I.P littler rover.

The little rover that could.

I hope when ever we go to the mars in person, that someone finds it still largely intact and we can stick it in a museum somewhere.

[Fartsniffage]

A poem from one Martian, to another.

God damnit, I thought I'd gotten my tears done and over with yesterday about this. Glad to know I'm not the only one out there being ridiculously sentimental about a robot. (Then again, I also teared up pretty good watching the NASA livestream of Cassini's grand finale, so....)

I think it would make more sense to erect a statue to honor all of the Martian rovers that lead to the eventual colonization.

I could totally get behind this. Mars rovers have come a VERY long way since tiny little Sojourner in the 90s. I remember how completely blown away I was in high school reading an article about the Pathfinder mission in Sky & Telescope and seeing the pictures from the lander and the rover. Seriously, this as a glorious glossy two-page spread was incredible. And with every subsequent mission that same sense of awe hits me in the feels all over again when the pictures start coming in. Hit me with Spirit and Oppy's mission began and throughout, ditto when Curiosity safely arrived, and I'm sure it will again when the Mars 2020 mission begins.

Man. RIP Oppy, the little rover that just wouldn't quit. Maybe one day a future Mars mission will be able to find the remains.

It should totally be a part of future manned missions to Mars. The science is essential, but so is the hope and wonder of space travel. Can you imagine anything more hopeful than finding our first steps on the planet? More wonderful than having the imagines of those first human pioneers being sent back 28 light minutes to the rest of humanity?

We don't leave anyone behind.

[Yusseria]

I hope that there will be more Opportunities to study Mars after Curiosity gets killed by... Mars dust or something?

Dust storm blocked out the light it needed to charge its solar panels.

Hence: "My battery is low and it's getting dark".

[Kannap]

I hope that there will be more Opportunities to study Mars after Curiosity gets killed by... Mars dust or something?

Dust storm blocked out the light it needed to charge its solar panels.

Hence: "My battery is low and it's getting dark".

And Curiosity is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator rather than solar panels, so a planetary dust storm won't stop Curiosity from being curious.

[Yusseria]

Dust storm blocked out the light it needed to charge its solar panels.

Hence: "My battery is low and it's getting dark".

And Curiosity is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator rather than solar panels, so a planetary dust storm won't stop Curiosity from being curious.

Absolute unit of a rover.

[Auze]

https://xkcd.com/695/
We need a counter part for this one too now

I expect one of the next few XKCDs will be about this, that rascal Randall is always on top of news like this.

He put out one before you posted this.

[Yusseria]

I wonder what us humans mourning the death of a machine would look like to aliens.

[North Emestia]

I imagine aliens would have yellow police tape all around the solar system. They've seen how humans can barely avoid killing each other, much less a whole new alien race.

[Western Vale Confederacy]

I imagine aliens would have yellow police tape all around the solar system. They've seen how humans can barely avoid killing each other, much less a whole new alien race.

That’s because in the event of alien contact, xenophobia would fucking skyrocket.