--- title: "The Dead Mars Rover Didn’t Actually Say That “My Battery” Thing" description: "## My Battery Is Low" date: "2019-02-17" modified: "2019-02-17" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/dead-mars-rover-didnt-say-battery-thing" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "NASA" - "Opportunity" - "the digest" --- # The Dead Mars Rover Didn’t Actually Say That “My Battery” Thing ![NASA's Opportunity Mars rover's last words weren't literally that "my battery is low line," the reporter behind the viral tweet clarified.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## My Battery Is Low When [news broke]() last week that NASA had finally given up hope on its long-lived Opportunity Mars rover, one fact dominated the conversation: that the rover's last words were the emo-sounding line "My battery is low and it's getting dark." The line originated with science reporter Jacob Margolis, who [tweeted that]() those had "basically" been the rover's last words. The internet immediately exploded, with the tweet going viral and the line being cited in [*NPR*](), the [*New York Daily News*](), *[ABC]() —* and, for the sake of transparency, [Futurism](). ## Skept-o-meter Now, Margolis is correcting the record. In a [new piece]() for *LAist,* he clarified that the "poetic translation" was based on what two Mars Exploration Rover Mission scientists told him about the rover's final transmissions — not a literal message. "While not as catchy as seven words on a T-shirt, Oppy's final message back to headquarters is still impressive," Margolis wrote in *LAist*. ## It's Getting Dark Still, Margolis says, the fact that Opportunity was still broadcasting messages a decade and a half after launch to an alien world is extraordinarily impressive. "And the fact that robot was super cute, doesn't hurt either," he quipped. **READ MORE:** [How A Tweet About The Mars Rover Dying Blew Up On The Internet And Made People Cry]() \[*LAist*\] ***More on Opportunity: [NASA’s Opportunity Rover Feared Dead: “An Honorable Death”]()*** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()