Advertisement
U.S. markets open in 8 hours 58 minutes
  • S&P Futures

    5,210.50
    -4.25 (-0.08%)
     
  • Dow Futures

    39,220.00
    -3.00 (-0.01%)
     
  • Nasdaq Futures

    18,190.75
    -40.75 (-0.22%)
     
  • Russell 2000 Futures

    2,049.70
    -0.10 (-0.00%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    82.72
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • Gold

    2,164.90
    +0.60 (+0.03%)
     
  • Silver

    25.34
    +0.08 (+0.32%)
     
  • EUR/USD

    1.0873
    -0.0004 (-0.03%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.3400
    -4.3400 (-100.00%)
     
  • Vix

    14.33
    -0.08 (-0.56%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2718
    -0.0011 (-0.09%)
     
  • USD/JPY

    149.8640
    +0.7660 (+0.51%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    65,591.98
    -2,391.20 (-3.52%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,722.55
    -4.87 (-0.06%)
     
  • Nikkei 225

    39,835.11
    +94.71 (+0.24%)
     

The Opportunity Rover Looks Nearly Unrecognizable After 10 Years On Mars

The Opportunity rover recently celebrated 10 years on Mars, even though the mission was only planned for three months. Engineers thought the rover would conk out much sooner, in part because they believed its solar panels would quickly become caked with dust and cut off the robot's power supply. Instead, they found that wind storms actually help to clean the panels.

Over the years, Opportunity has taken several self-portraits — an overhead view of the rover made by combining several images — that give us a good idea of how much dust has accumulated on the solar panels. Compared to its first year on Mars, the rover is looking really dirty today.

Check out the transformation in the images below.

December 2004, all shiny and new:

Dc. 2004
Dc. 2004

NASA

February 2007: (This image is not as complete as the other because it was taken after a dust storm when rover power was limited)

Feb 2007
Feb 2007

NASA

December 2011:

Dec2011
Dec2011

NASA

January 2014:

Jan 2014
Jan 2014

NASA

Here's a side-by-side view of the solar panels from December 2004 (left) and today:

opportunity rover solar panels
opportunity rover solar panels

NASA

Shockingly these dust-caked solar panels are still working and powering the rover.



More From Business Insider

Advertisement