Mars Share 4: In Mars Share 2, I covered "How to get to Mars" and that particular Post dealt with the Rocketry and landing of the Spirit Rover..., Our first rover on Mars... In Mars Share 3, I covered future replacements for "Chemical rocket propulsion IN space" to vastly improve our trip time to Mars... Now in Mars Share 4, I am covering the 2nd Rover Mission, with the landing of Rover, Opportunity! An impressive Martian Rover, which is described in a NASA Report as follows:
"One of the most successful and enduring feats of interplanetary exploration, NASA's Opportunity rover mission is at an end after almost 15 years exploring the surface of Mars and helping lay the groundwork for NASA's return to the Red Planet.
The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made their last attempt to revive Opportunity Tuesday, to no avail. The solar-powered rover's final communication was received June 10".
"Designed to last just 90 Martian days and travel 1,100 yards (1,000 meters), Opportunity vastly surpassed all expectations in its endurance, scientific value and longevity. In addition to exceeding its life expectancy by 60 times, the rover traveled more than 28 miles (45 kilometers) by the time it reached its most appropriate final resting spot on Mars — Perseverance Valley".
There have been other NASA Mars Space Missions and I will report on them over the coming days and weeks..., but all of that said, please enjoy this short video regarding the marvelous "Opportunity Rover".