The rover was sent on a 90-day mission. It kept operating on Mars for 15 years, 28 miles and 5,000 charge cycles. Today, NASA said goodbye.
This Twitter thread from NASA Solar System is probably the best tribute to the little robot that could (and did).
But the thing everyone’s likely to remember is science writer Jacob Margolis’ translation of Opportunity’s final transmission, after a colossal dust storm obscured the craft’s solar panels: My battery is low and it’s getting dark.
Then, rover’s clock got scrambled. It became unable to respond to transmissions sent from Earth, and couldn’t tell when to rest to conserve electricity.
It served well.