---
title: "NASA’s Opportunity Rover Feared Dead: “An Honorable Death”"
description: "On the week of the 15th anniversary of NASA's Opportunity rover's touchdown, officials are acknowledging that it could be permanently out of commission."
date: "2019-01-26"
modified: "2019-01-26"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/opportunity-rover-nasa-feared-dead"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "mars"
  - "NASA"
  - "opportunity rover"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA’s Opportunity Rover Feared Dead: “An Honorable Death”

![On the week of the 15th anniversary of NASA's Opportunity rover's touchdown, officials are acknowledging that it could be permanently out of commission.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/nasas-opportunity-rover-feared-dead-an-honorable-death.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Opportunity Rover

Fifteen years ago this week, NASA's Opportunity rover touched down on Mars. Now, officials are acknowledging that the rover could be permanently out of commission due to a dust storm that [knocked it out of communication](<https://futurism.com/opportunity-rover-dust-storm>) with Earth in the summer of 2018.

"This could be the end," principal investigator Steven Squyres [told the *New York Times*](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/science/mars-opportunity-rover.html>) on Friday. "Under the assumption that this is the end, it feels good. I mean that."

## Brave Explorer

When Opportunity landed in 2004, it was only expected to last for 90 days. Instead, it powered through an extraordinary 5,111 — nearly a decade and a half of exploration on another world.

The spunky rover [added appreciably](<https://www.space.com/24397-mars-rovers-spirit-opportunity-best-discoveries-ray-arvidson.html>) to scientists' understanding of the Red Planet, was [immortalized by XKCD](<https://xkcd.com/1504/>), and took an [iconic selfie](<https://www.space.com/39830-mars-rover-opportunity-selfie-5000-days.html>). Its "immense scientific legacy" [helped NASA plan the follow-up](<https://www.space.com/18289-opportunity-rover.html>) Curiosity rover mission.

## "Honorable Death"

But six months ago, Opportunity found itself in the middle of a dust storm that the *Times* called "one of the most ferocious storms on Mars in decades" — which blocked its solar panels and it may have proven to be too much for the tiny rover to overcome.

"That’s an honorable death," Squyres told the *Times*.

**READ MORE:** [‘This Could Be the End’ for NASA’s Mars Opportunity Rover](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/science/mars-opportunity-rover.html>) \[*The New York Times*\]

***More on Opportunity:*** [NASA’s Opportunity Rover: How 90 days on Mars Turned into 12 Years](<https://futurism.com/nasas-opportunity-rover-90-days-mars-turned-12-years>)

## 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](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)