1
00:00:00,125 --> 00:00:02,708
(upbeat music)

2
00:00:11,420 --> 00:00:13,890
On February 1st, 2019,

3
00:00:13,890 --> 00:00:15,840
members of the Mars Exploration team

4
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:17,860
gathered at NASA's JPL headquarters

5
00:00:17,860 --> 00:00:19,640
to say their final goodbye

6
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,723
to one of space explorations greatest pioneers,

7
00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:25,263
the Opportunity Rover.

8
00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:27,513
I wanted to say,

9
00:00:27,513 --> 00:00:30,050
with the completion of tonight's commanding,

10
00:00:30,050 --> 00:00:35,050
this concludes operations for MER-1 spacecraft ID 253.

11
00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,550
And on behalf of the entire MER project,

12
00:00:37,550 --> 00:00:40,930
we'd like to thank the DSN for over 15 and a half years

13
00:00:40,930 --> 00:00:44,850
of outstanding support, from launch until tonight.

14
00:00:44,850 --> 00:00:45,973
And this is station 14,

15
00:00:45,973 --> 00:00:47,725
on behalf of the network,

16
00:00:47,725 --> 00:00:49,330
thank you for your comments,

17
00:00:49,330 --> 00:00:52,969
and it's a sad day for all of us.

18
00:00:52,969 --> 00:00:55,080
(upbeat music)

19
00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:56,663
14, you are released.

20
00:00:57,932 --> 00:00:59,910
And 14 copies.

21
00:00:59,910 --> 00:01:01,533
MER Project, off the net.

22
00:01:03,207 --> 00:01:05,190
(all applaud)

23
00:01:05,190 --> 00:01:06,050
In an instant,

24
00:01:06,050 --> 00:01:10,510
the lights went out on a record journey of almost 15 years.

25
00:01:10,510 --> 00:01:13,883
A far cry from the expected 90 days survival rate.

26
00:01:15,930 --> 00:01:17,340
In it's wake,

27
00:01:17,340 --> 00:01:20,333
Opportunity has left a history-redefining legacy.

28
00:01:21,180 --> 00:01:24,198
We have been given the opportunity,

29
00:01:24,198 --> 00:01:27,280
by a team of engineers 15 years ago,

30
00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,100
who built two of the most extraordinary pieces

31
00:01:30,100 --> 00:01:34,240
of space exploration hardware ever conceived and built.

32
00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:35,840
You only get to do something like this

33
00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,020
for the first time once.

34
00:01:38,020 --> 00:01:39,800
Well sort of,

35
00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,540
after all, the program did construct twin Rovers,

36
00:01:43,540 --> 00:01:45,620
destined to land in two locations

37
00:01:45,620 --> 00:01:47,770
on opposite sides of the planet.

38
00:01:47,770 --> 00:01:50,793
A redundancy designed to increase their chance of success.

39
00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,090
Spirit was the first to break away from Earth's gravity,

40
00:01:55,090 --> 00:01:57,980
with Opportunity lighting up the Florida night sky

41
00:01:57,980 --> 00:01:59,840
a few weeks later,

42
00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:01,900
as it too rocketed towards

43
00:02:01,900 --> 00:02:04,683
our closest planetary neighbor, Mars.

44
00:02:05,900 --> 00:02:07,750
It wasn't an easy trip.

45
00:02:07,750 --> 00:02:10,055
Solar storms a few months into the journey

46
00:02:10,055 --> 00:02:13,960
bombarded the Rovers with brutal radiation.

47
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,020
NASA's $850 million explorers

48
00:02:17,020 --> 00:02:18,663
weren't communicating with home.

49
00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:22,850
It was a nail biting moment,

50
00:02:22,850 --> 00:02:26,960
until Mission Control tried the old IT help desk stand-by,

51
00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,010
turning your Rover off and back on again.

52
00:02:32,540 --> 00:02:33,373
It worked,

53
00:02:34,220 --> 00:02:35,793
first crisis averted.

54
00:02:37,230 --> 00:02:40,330
Now, to the really harrowing part of the mission,

55
00:02:40,330 --> 00:02:41,763
landing on Mars.

56
00:02:42,950 --> 00:02:45,590
Hurtling at 16,000 miles per hour,

57
00:02:45,590 --> 00:02:47,533
about 10 times the speed of a bullet.

58
00:02:49,050 --> 00:02:51,350
The heat shield in front of the Rover vehicle

59
00:02:51,350 --> 00:02:53,963
got about as hot as the surface of the Sun.

60
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,470
A supersonic parachute deployed.

61
00:03:00,470 --> 00:03:01,593
Atmospheric entry.

62
00:03:02,860 --> 00:03:04,620
It was time for everyone back on Earth

63
00:03:04,620 --> 00:03:06,490
to strap themselves in.

64
00:03:06,490 --> 00:03:08,163
It was going to be a bumpy ride.

65
00:03:09,967 --> 00:03:13,563
Current altitude 8000 feet.

66
00:03:14,420 --> 00:03:16,363
The heat shield jettisoned.

67
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,393
The airbags blew up in less than 1,000th of a second.

68
00:03:28,190 --> 00:03:30,263
And then she bounced.

69
00:03:33,860 --> 00:03:36,087
We're getting a bouncing signal.

70
00:03:37,589 --> 00:03:39,276
(crowd cheers)

71
00:03:39,276 --> 00:03:41,380
We are getting a bounce signal.

72
00:03:41,380 --> 00:03:45,008
Confirmation that space craft is bouncing and alive on Mars.

73
00:03:45,008 --> 00:03:46,571
And bounced,

74
00:03:46,571 --> 00:03:47,404
26 times.

75
00:03:49,482 --> 00:03:51,722
We have a momentary loss of signal,

76
00:03:51,722 --> 00:03:53,660
as the space craft is bouncing on the surface.

77
00:03:53,660 --> 00:03:55,310
It is difficult to maintain lock.

78
00:03:56,470 --> 00:03:58,360
We need to reacquire the signal,

79
00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,550
to have positive confirmation of a safe landing.

80
00:04:01,550 --> 00:04:03,920
But there's always a possibility something goes wrong,

81
00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:05,500
something you didn't account for,

82
00:04:05,500 --> 00:04:06,900
or just bad luck,

83
00:04:06,900 --> 00:04:09,120
like really sharp pointy rocks

84
00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:10,330
right where you want it to land

85
00:04:10,330 --> 00:04:11,785
that might puncture the airbags.

86
00:04:11,785 --> 00:04:13,620
But these are the risks that you take

87
00:04:13,620 --> 00:04:15,520
when you're going someplace where you've never been,

88
00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,130
that you know is dangerous and unknown.

89
00:04:18,130 --> 00:04:19,995
We're seeing it on the LCP.

90
00:04:19,995 --> 00:04:23,662
(Crowd cheers and Applauds)

91
00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:28,278
We have a very strong signal.

92
00:04:28,278 --> 00:04:29,111
(indistinct radio chatter)

93
00:04:29,111 --> 00:04:32,444
(cheering and applause)

94
00:04:36,470 --> 00:04:38,570
Finally the airbags deflated,

95
00:04:39,730 --> 00:04:42,030
and the solar arrays opened up,

96
00:04:42,030 --> 00:04:43,980
charging the power hungry little Rover.

97
00:04:52,590 --> 00:04:53,913
And she lifted her head,

98
00:04:54,870 --> 00:04:56,133
the panoramic camera,

99
00:04:57,310 --> 00:05:02,310
and sent her first beautiful, "We are here.", postcard.

100
00:05:02,950 --> 00:05:05,220
When Opportunity sent back that first picture

101
00:05:05,220 --> 00:05:06,730
from Eagle Crater,

102
00:05:06,730 --> 00:05:08,900
that night is burned in my brain,

103
00:05:08,900 --> 00:05:09,940
I will never forget it.

104
00:05:09,940 --> 00:05:12,650
It was such a dramatic image of Mars.

105
00:05:12,650 --> 00:05:14,040
And it was so different

106
00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:15,823
than any images we've seen before.

107
00:05:16,780 --> 00:05:17,620
It was now time

108
00:05:17,620 --> 00:05:20,280
for Opportunity to get to work.

109
00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:21,660
It's mission,

110
00:05:21,660 --> 00:05:25,130
the quest for the holy grail of planetary exploration,

111
00:05:25,130 --> 00:05:26,860
liquid water.

112
00:05:26,860 --> 00:05:30,000
It was initially planned as a 90 day expedition

113
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,423
that would stretch on for 15 years.

114
00:05:34,230 --> 00:05:39,120
The Mars Exploration Program had this long standing goal

115
00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,550
of searching for signs of life on Mars.

116
00:05:41,550 --> 00:05:42,930
But that's a really big question.

117
00:05:42,930 --> 00:05:44,820
That's a really hard question to answer.

118
00:05:44,820 --> 00:05:48,120
So we started with something a little more simple.

119
00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:49,310
A little more fundamental.

120
00:05:49,310 --> 00:05:52,030
Was there ever water, liquid water on Mars?

121
00:05:52,030 --> 00:05:53,880
Where and for how long?

122
00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:56,430
And that was what Spirit an Opportunity

123
00:05:56,430 --> 00:05:58,773
really went out to go look for.

124
00:06:01,030 --> 00:06:03,490
Golf cart sized Spirit and Opportunity

125
00:06:03,490 --> 00:06:05,743
were designed to be wandering geologists.

126
00:06:08,370 --> 00:06:10,460
Instead of pics and hammers, though,

127
00:06:10,460 --> 00:06:12,150
they have little particle blasters

128
00:06:12,150 --> 00:06:13,823
that they use to take samples,

129
00:06:17,230 --> 00:06:20,520
and spectrometers and microscopes to examine them.

130
00:06:24,900 --> 00:06:26,240
And wouldn't you know it,

131
00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,903
fortune was immediately on Opportunity's side.

132
00:06:32,100 --> 00:06:34,580
Opportunity landed on a flat plane

133
00:06:34,580 --> 00:06:37,240
known as Meridiani Planum,

134
00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:38,760
before gently bouncing

135
00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,993
to the inside of a small meteorite impact crater.

136
00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:44,609
Opportunity lands right from the get go

137
00:06:44,609 --> 00:06:48,942
discovery of water formed rocks right, it came easy.

138
00:06:48,942 --> 00:06:50,920
Here she found little,

139
00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:52,460
so called, blueberries,

140
00:06:52,460 --> 00:06:54,717
that contained hematite and iron ore.

141
00:06:56,840 --> 00:07:00,100
Opportunity found evidence of water

142
00:07:00,100 --> 00:07:02,070
just immediately below the surface,

143
00:07:02,070 --> 00:07:04,010
in the shapes of the rocks

144
00:07:04,010 --> 00:07:06,010
there is cross-bedding in the rocks

145
00:07:06,010 --> 00:07:07,600
and then also in the minerals.

146
00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:08,803
This mineral hematite,

147
00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:12,120
it's an iron mineral

148
00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,903
that forms in areas with a lot of water.

149
00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,830
The next 56 Martian days, known as sols,

150
00:07:21,830 --> 00:07:24,613
were spent probing and analyzing the area.

151
00:07:27,570 --> 00:07:29,660
It looked as though Opportunity's landing site

152
00:07:29,660 --> 00:07:32,590
was once the shoreline of a salty sea,

153
00:07:32,590 --> 00:07:35,040
but one that was too salty and acidic

154
00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:36,353
for life as we know it.

155
00:07:38,570 --> 00:07:41,800
It was now time to leave the safe confines of Eagle Crater,

156
00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,493
and strike out into the vast Martian terrain.

157
00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:48,905
Opportunity reached it's next destination,

158
00:07:48,905 --> 00:07:50,370
Endurance Crater,

159
00:07:50,370 --> 00:07:53,003
after a one month long, one kilometer trek.

160
00:07:54,610 --> 00:07:59,170
Peering across the rim of the 130 meter wide crater,

161
00:07:59,170 --> 00:08:03,133
it spent the next month detailing the 20 foot precipice.

162
00:08:05,510 --> 00:08:07,350
And then, in what could have been

163
00:08:07,350 --> 00:08:10,483
a mission ending decision, gently descended.

164
00:08:14,130 --> 00:08:17,520
The next six months were spent analyzing the crater,

165
00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:19,210
where Opportunity would once again

166
00:08:19,210 --> 00:08:21,083
find evidence of ancient water.

167
00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,133
But it was too salty to harbor life.

168
00:08:34,260 --> 00:08:37,310
On it's 315th day on Mars,

169
00:08:37,310 --> 00:08:39,460
the Rover exited the crater

170
00:08:39,460 --> 00:08:42,053
on it's way towards it's discarded heat shield.

171
00:08:43,470 --> 00:08:45,510
Allowing scientists and engineers back home

172
00:08:45,510 --> 00:08:47,940
to examine the effects of the Rover's entry

173
00:08:47,940 --> 00:08:49,490
through the Martian atmosphere,

174
00:08:50,660 --> 00:08:53,373
as well as the nine foot wide impact crater.

175
00:08:55,550 --> 00:08:58,780
It taught us how to do surface operations.

176
00:08:58,780 --> 00:09:03,060
It taught us how to read the terrain and navigate

177
00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:06,260
and plot a safe path from one point to another.

178
00:09:06,260 --> 00:09:07,780
We did not know how to do those,

179
00:09:07,780 --> 00:09:08,930
it was all speculative.

180
00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,430
Lo and behold, a few days later,

181
00:09:14,430 --> 00:09:18,240
Opportunity notched another first in space exploration,

182
00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,523
as it saw the first meteorite on another planet.

183
00:09:23,670 --> 00:09:25,890
Having spent close to a year on Mars,

184
00:09:25,890 --> 00:09:27,390
it was now time to head south,

185
00:09:27,390 --> 00:09:29,620
towards Victoria Crater.

186
00:09:29,620 --> 00:09:31,883
But not everything went according to plan.

187
00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:39,380
On sol 446, Opportunity ended up getting it's wheels stuck,

188
00:09:39,380 --> 00:09:40,853
rendering it immobile.

189
00:09:42,310 --> 00:09:46,250
The culprit, an exceptionally tricky sand dune,

190
00:09:46,250 --> 00:09:49,003
measuring a whopping 12 inches tall.

191
00:09:50,850 --> 00:09:52,540
Team members back home would perform

192
00:09:52,540 --> 00:09:54,320
weeks worth of simulations,

193
00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:55,790
in hopes of finding the right way

194
00:09:55,790 --> 00:09:58,110
to escape the sandy clutches

195
00:09:58,110 --> 00:10:00,903
of what would come to be known as Purgatory Dune.

196
00:10:02,770 --> 00:10:04,190
Over a month later,

197
00:10:04,190 --> 00:10:05,610
it would finally free itself,

198
00:10:05,610 --> 00:10:07,363
and continue on it's long voyage.

199
00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,720
What we found is, the best way to get it out,

200
00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,740
is just to put it in reverse, and gun it.

201
00:10:13,740 --> 00:10:15,343
The Rover eventually popped out.

202
00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:20,640
Finally,

203
00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,930
21 months after leaving it's original landing site,

204
00:10:23,930 --> 00:10:27,123
Opportunity arrived at the rim of Victoria Crater.

205
00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:33,600
A colossal half mile wide, 230 feet deep, impact crater.

206
00:10:34,248 --> 00:10:36,180
A geologist's dream,

207
00:10:36,180 --> 00:10:38,703
but entering it was no walk in the park.

208
00:10:39,890 --> 00:10:42,220
It was here that the team caught the first image

209
00:10:42,220 --> 00:10:44,160
of the Rover from space,

210
00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:45,513
sitting at the edge.

211
00:10:48,250 --> 00:10:50,280
Opportunity spent six months

212
00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,550
searching for a safe path in,

213
00:10:52,550 --> 00:10:55,810
when, in late June, gathering Martian dust storms

214
00:10:55,810 --> 00:10:57,853
threatened to kill off the hardy Rover.

215
00:11:00,820 --> 00:11:03,540
Every couple of seasonal cycles on Mars,

216
00:11:03,540 --> 00:11:04,630
they get these dust storms

217
00:11:04,630 --> 00:11:06,240
and they can be global dust storms

218
00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,530
where they literally obscure the sunlight.

219
00:11:09,530 --> 00:11:10,460
They're solar powered,

220
00:11:10,460 --> 00:11:12,960
it's all about getting enough energy from the sun.

221
00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:17,760
Opportunity had to hunker down for two months

222
00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:19,850
while dust storms raged,

223
00:11:19,850 --> 00:11:21,730
limiting the solar power to a level

224
00:11:21,730 --> 00:11:25,083
that nearly caused the permanent failure of both Rovers.

225
00:11:27,660 --> 00:11:29,200
So they went radio silent.

226
00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:31,430
Radio dark for days.

227
00:11:31,430 --> 00:11:34,554
And we didn't know if the Rovers were dead or alive.

228
00:11:34,554 --> 00:11:36,640
And we programmed the Rovers to wake up

229
00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:38,750
at a certain time in the future.

230
00:11:38,750 --> 00:11:39,760
And it was very dramatic

231
00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:41,730
because all of us were there in the control room

232
00:11:41,730 --> 00:11:43,470
waiting for the data to come down.

233
00:11:43,470 --> 00:11:45,490
And we'd gone days without hearing from them.

234
00:11:45,490 --> 00:11:47,750
And we'd seen orbital imagery of the planet

235
00:11:47,750 --> 00:11:49,652
just clouded in dust.

236
00:11:49,652 --> 00:11:51,010
Would they be alive?

237
00:11:51,010 --> 00:11:52,460
Would they tell us?

238
00:11:52,460 --> 00:11:55,370
And sure enough, right at the moment they woke up,

239
00:11:55,370 --> 00:11:57,403
they said I'm here, and I'm okay.

240
00:11:58,750 --> 00:12:01,100
Turns out, not all dust storms

241
00:12:01,100 --> 00:12:02,860
are harmful to the Rovers,

242
00:12:02,860 --> 00:12:04,483
they can also be a blessing.

243
00:12:05,550 --> 00:12:08,031
Mars is riddled with dust devils,

244
00:12:08,031 --> 00:12:12,290
dust devils that, instead of choking our roving ladies,

245
00:12:12,290 --> 00:12:15,033
kept them going long past their sell by date.

246
00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:21,000
Dust accumulates at the rate of about 1% a day.

247
00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,920
Which means that after 100 days,

248
00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,330
most of the solar arrays will be covered by dust.

249
00:12:26,330 --> 00:12:28,370
That would mean we'd have

250
00:12:28,370 --> 00:12:30,590
a 100 day mission, a 90 day mission

251
00:12:30,590 --> 00:12:31,900
that's what we designed.

252
00:12:31,900 --> 00:12:34,420
What we didn't expect is that wind gusts,

253
00:12:34,420 --> 00:12:37,290
or wind events, or dust devils, or something,

254
00:12:37,290 --> 00:12:40,429
would come along, and blow the dust off the arrays.

255
00:12:40,429 --> 00:12:43,160
It's like someone came by with a leaf blower

256
00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:44,970
and just dusted the whole Rover off

257
00:12:44,970 --> 00:12:47,183
and it was factory new again.

258
00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:54,480
The revived Rover eventually entered the crater

259
00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,590
and spent a year investigating interior,

260
00:12:57,590 --> 00:13:01,810
before setting off for the much larger Endeavour Crater,

261
00:13:01,810 --> 00:13:04,303
a 13 mile, three year journey.

262
00:13:06,350 --> 00:13:09,360
There were too many of these dangerous ripples in our way.

263
00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,400
And we actually had to take this circuitous route that,

264
00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:15,070
at times, took us away from the crater,

265
00:13:15,070 --> 00:13:16,410
only to then cut back

266
00:13:16,410 --> 00:13:18,713
and then approach it more directly.

267
00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:21,620
During this trek

268
00:13:21,620 --> 00:13:23,950
Opportunity would break the operational record

269
00:13:23,950 --> 00:13:26,240
for a functioning probe on Mars,

270
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:28,500
a mark it still holds on it's own.

271
00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:32,150
Since it's twin and mission mate, the Spirit Rover,

272
00:13:32,150 --> 00:13:34,080
had it's last communication with Earth

273
00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,760
on March 22nd of 2010,

274
00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,185
when it's wheel became stuck in soft sand,

275
00:13:39,185 --> 00:13:42,543
and could no longer adjust the tilt of it's solar panels.

276
00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,330
Spirit eventually ran out of power,

277
00:13:47,330 --> 00:13:51,520
and NASA officially ended it's mission in May of 2011,

278
00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,163
two months before Opportunity's arrival at Endeavour Crater.

279
00:13:58,830 --> 00:14:01,300
A very different place, geologically speaking,

280
00:14:01,300 --> 00:14:03,233
from either Rovers' landing site.

281
00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,520
It was here that the team first discovered veins of Gypsum,

282
00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:12,950
a mineral deposited by liquid water and clay minerals,

283
00:14:12,950 --> 00:14:15,960
which suggest intriguing ancient history,

284
00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:16,793
which includes

285
00:14:16,793 --> 00:14:19,393
a potentially life supporting water chemistry.

286
00:14:21,220 --> 00:14:24,250
And because it's been able to drive that great distance,

287
00:14:24,250 --> 00:14:26,710
it's actually gone back in time.

288
00:14:26,710 --> 00:14:28,220
And what I mean by that is,

289
00:14:28,220 --> 00:14:30,210
the geology is of different ages

290
00:14:30,210 --> 00:14:32,030
at different places on Mars.

291
00:14:32,030 --> 00:14:34,530
Where the Rover's landed on Mars

292
00:14:34,530 --> 00:14:36,960
is sort of middle age Mars.

293
00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,497
Where Opportunity has driven to is ancient Mars,

294
00:14:40,497 --> 00:14:42,660
and it's where different clues reveal

295
00:14:42,660 --> 00:14:44,840
the complex history of ancient Mars

296
00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:48,620
and has informed us about the ancient history of the planet,

297
00:14:48,620 --> 00:14:51,413
which is that it was very much Earth-like, at one time.

298
00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:55,570
As Opportunity explored the ridge

299
00:14:55,570 --> 00:14:57,000
of Endeavour Crater,

300
00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,150
it passed yet another milestone in March of 2015.

301
00:15:01,150 --> 00:15:04,080
Having traveled more than a marathon in distance

302
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:05,463
on the Martian surface.

303
00:15:07,290 --> 00:15:09,850
The requirement was for one Rover

304
00:15:09,850 --> 00:15:12,220
to traverse at least 600 meters.

305
00:15:12,220 --> 00:15:13,810
That's half a mile,

306
00:15:13,810 --> 00:15:18,520
and Opportunity has gone over a marathon's distance.

307
00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,990
So more than 26 miles,

308
00:15:20,990 --> 00:15:24,120
more than 42 kilometers on the surface of Mars,

309
00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,343
more than any other human enterprise beyond the Earth.

310
00:15:29,310 --> 00:15:30,170
You could say

311
00:15:30,170 --> 00:15:33,423
the Rover set the off-Earth driving distance record.

312
00:15:35,030 --> 00:15:37,470
By the end, Opportunity traversed

313
00:15:37,470 --> 00:15:40,003
more than 28 miles of Martian landscape.

314
00:15:41,860 --> 00:15:45,540
Sharing more than 225 thousand images of it's surroundings

315
00:15:45,540 --> 00:15:47,090
with researchers back on Earth.

316
00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,470
Perseverance Valley, believed to be a water formed gully,

317
00:15:55,470 --> 00:15:57,823
was Opportunity's final destination.

318
00:16:02,690 --> 00:16:06,210
It was here, on June 10th 2018,

319
00:16:06,210 --> 00:16:08,970
Sol 5111,

320
00:16:08,970 --> 00:16:11,800
that Opportunity sent it's last message,

321
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,467
creatively and poetically translated by media outlets as

322
00:16:15,467 --> 00:16:18,537
"My battery is low, and it's getting dark."

323
00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:23,430
This, as a massive

324
00:16:23,430 --> 00:16:26,283
and devastatingly dense dust storm approached.

325
00:16:28,143 --> 00:16:30,710
And so the Rover couldn't generate any energy with that.

326
00:16:30,710 --> 00:16:33,290
And so we saw the Rover just shut down.

327
00:16:33,290 --> 00:16:35,370
And there was nothing we could do at that point

328
00:16:35,370 --> 00:16:38,790
because it didn't have power to keep going.

329
00:16:38,790 --> 00:16:40,403
And we just had to wait.

330
00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,410
And that's what we did do

331
00:16:43,410 --> 00:16:45,083
is wait and wait and wait.

332
00:16:46,970 --> 00:16:49,270
This is it's last panoramic view.

333
00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:52,410
Eight months later,

334
00:16:52,410 --> 00:16:55,263
NASA would designate Opportunity lost.

335
00:16:56,180 --> 00:16:57,923
It's mission complete.

336
00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:06,210
This mission accomplished so much more than we wanted to.

337
00:17:06,210 --> 00:17:09,472
It's just, it's mind boggling to me.

338
00:17:09,472 --> 00:17:13,410
If you had told me around the time we landed,

339
00:17:13,410 --> 00:17:14,720
that Spirit and Opportunity,

340
00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,530
were going to each accomplish one quarter,

341
00:17:17,530 --> 00:17:20,050
or one 10th of what they ultimately did,

342
00:17:20,050 --> 00:17:21,400
I would have been thrilled.

343
00:17:23,120 --> 00:17:25,330
But while the operation may be over,

344
00:17:25,330 --> 00:17:27,513
it's ultimate enterprise continues.

345
00:17:30,860 --> 00:17:33,090
New programs, like the Curiosity Rover,

346
00:17:33,090 --> 00:17:35,680
which landed on Mars in 2012,

347
00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:37,960
and the future Mars 2020 Rover,

348
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,030
are designed to build on the contributions

349
00:17:40,030 --> 00:17:41,823
of both Spirit and Opportunity.

350
00:17:44,430 --> 00:17:47,450
Not only their string of scientific firsts,

351
00:17:47,450 --> 00:17:50,030
but also their emotional journey,

352
00:17:50,030 --> 00:17:51,840
illuminating the history

353
00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:53,663
and beauty of the Red Planet.

354
00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:00,640
It's just almost incomprehensibly remarkable,

355
00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:04,123
and how much we have rewritten the Martian history books.

356
00:18:07,220 --> 00:18:10,930
We have to remember not the loss,

357
00:18:10,930 --> 00:18:13,530
but the gain that we've had over the many years

358
00:18:13,530 --> 00:18:15,330
and how, what a phenomenal story

359
00:18:15,330 --> 00:18:18,100
because it was meant to be a three month odyssey

360
00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:19,800
and it's been an incredible discovery

361
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:21,400
and that's the great gift.

362
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,593
That's the wonderful thing to remember.

363
00:18:28,442 --> 00:18:30,442
(music)