The NASA press conference was a beautiful, heartfelt celebration of the 15 years of Opportunity's mission and a look to the future of Mars exploration.
Over the last 9 months, the team sent over 1,000 recovery commands to try and wake Opportunity up, ultimately to no avail. The last message Opportunity sent translated as “My battery is low and it is getting dark.” 🥺 Amidst a month-long, record-setting dust storm, it was simply too cold and too dark for too long.
Now the internet is overflowing with personal tributes, and more than a few tears. Here are a few, as well as some images and infographics:
Official statement and mission recap from JPL: https://mars.nasa.gov/…/nasas-opportunity-rover-mission-on…/
XKCD Comic "Opportunity": https://xkcd.com/2111/
A comic with a happy ending, one day: https://twitter.com/GlenMaffews/status/1095514961940488192
More hope for a reunion in the future: “And in 200 years time the little rover will awaken to someone cleaning and repairing it and fitting new batteries, and it'll roll outside and look out over the city of the same name, its home.”: https://twitter.com/od_stuff/status/1096069782724591616
A thread on what went wrong for Opportunity: https://twitter.com/JacobMargolis/status/1095436908899913729
A thread on what Opportunity has meant for humanity, and why we cry at its loss: https://twitter.com/shannonmstir…/status/1095730251873714176
A live blog thread on the NASA press conference: https://twitter.com/tanyaofmars/status/1095759187227770880
Another beautiful goodbye: https://twitter.com/MarsRovers/status/1095760214169546752
A eulogy by Rachel Feltman: https://www.popsci.com/mars-opportunity-eulogy
A whole Flikr gallery of images from Opportunity over the years by Jason Major: https://www.flickr.com/…/lightsinth…/sets/72157669559511817/
Curiosity’s tribute to Opportunity: https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/status/1095788439155306496
Even The Onion got sentimental: https://www.theonion.com/spacecraft-travel-from-all-over-galaxy-to-honor-end-of-1832602862
Beautiful thoughts from Scott Maxwell, who relayed commands to Opportunity for years: https://twitter.com/marsroverdriver/status/1095786993957535744
Ad astra to Opportunity, the finest planetary rover we’ve ever known: https://twitter.com/DeanBobbyBraun/status/1095778180269522944
I'm not crying, you're crying. Okay, fine, we're all crying. 😭
Originally posted on Facebook (with updates).