Opportunity at Perseverance Valley: Today’s APOD by Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo

Opportunity rover at Perseverance Valley – Farewell view 
Featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) on Feb. 15, 2019. This pre-dust storm panoramic mosaic view was one of the last ones taken by NASA’s Opportunity rover and shows the spectacular view from her approximate current position as of June 2018 after traveling halfway down the fluid carved slope of Perseverance Valley - while peering into the interior of vast Endeavour Crater.  This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled by Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo from raw images taken on Sol 5074  (3 May 2018) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

Ken Kremer  --SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –15 February 2019

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – ‘Opportunity at Perseverance Valley’ is the featured image on today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) Feb15, 2019 – the mosaic was created by the imaging team of Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo.

NASA declared the Opportunity mission complete on Feb. 13 after no transmissions were received in a final try following 8 months of dogged attempts to recontact the six wheeled robot after a historic planet encircling dust storm hit Mars and knocked out all  communications - ceasing on June 10, 2018. 

‘Opportunity at Perseverance Valley’ is a farewell view across the Martian Landscape peering around vast Endeavour Crater - As seen through the eyes of NASA’s Opportunity MarsExploration Rover (MER) mission after 15 Years Roving the Red Planet!

‘Perseverance Valley’ is the location where she stands for eternity. Although designed and ‘wannentied’ as a mere 90 day mission, she actually endured and explored for over 5000 sols. That’s more than 55 times beyond the design lifetime of what the scientists and engineers planned. 

Here is the text from today’s APOD:

Explanation: Opportunity had already reached Perseverance Valley by June of 2018. Its view is reconstructed in a colorized mosaic of images taken by the Mars Exploration Rover's Navcam. In fact, Perseverance Valley is an appropriate name for the destination. Designed for a 90 day mission, Opportunity had traveled across Mars for over 5,000 sols (martian solar days) following a January 2004 landing in Eagle crater. Covering a total distance of over 45 kilometers (28 miles), its intrepid journey of exploration across the Martian landscape has come to a close here. On June 10, 2018, the last transmission from the solar-powered rover was received as a dust storm engulfed the Red Planet. Though the storm has subsided, eight months of attempts to contact Opportunity have not been successful and its trailblazing mission ended after almost 15 years of exploring the surface of Mars. 

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Our mosaic featured on 'Astronomy Picture of the Day' today Feb 15 is a tribute to the team who designed, built and operated the golf cart sized Opportunity.

The last communication from the robot nicknamed ‘Oppy’ with Earth was received June 10, 2018 (Sol 5111) where she stands at Perseverance Valley – a gully carved by flowing liquid water in ancient times along the eroded rim of giant Endeavour Crater.

Opportunity was the longest surviving robot ever to explore the surface of Mars. 

She was declareddead by NASA officials on Wednesday, Feb. 13 after conducting a record-setting 15 year mission on the Red Planet when she  failed to respond to a final set of ‘Phone Home’ sent last night from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.  Read my story here. 

To illustrate Opportunity’s adventures, I’m including herein several of the hundreds of Opportunity rover mosaics created by the imaging team of Ken Kremer (founder and editor of Space UpClose) and Marco Di Lorenzo – including several more mosaics showing the wide panoramic view from the top of Perserenance Valley. Also check out our route map below showing the entire 15 year journey across Mars. 

Opportunity rover looks south from the top of Perseverance Valley along the rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars in this partial self portrait including the rover deck and solar panels. Perseverance Valley descends from the right and terminates down near the crater floor. This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 4736 (20 May 2017) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

When the massive planet-encircling dust storm hit Opportunity had been descending down and exploring Perseverance Valley located along the eroded western rim of the gigantic 22-km diameter (14 mi) impact crater named Endeavour. 

This series of images shows simulated views of a darkening Martian sky blotting out the Sun from NASA’s Opportunity rover’s point of view, with the right side simulating Opportunity’s current view in the historic  global dust storm (June 2018) the worst ever recorded on Mars.  The middle panel 3^rd from right shows how the sky darkened in the worst prior dust storm when some sunlight got through the haze and the rover survived.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU

NASA’s Opportunity rover acquired this Martian panoramic view from a promontory that overlooks Perseverance Valley below – scanning from north to south. It is centered on due East and into the interior of Endeavour crater. Perseverance Valley descends from the right and terminates down near the crater floor in the center of the panorama. The far rim of Endeavour crater is seen in the distance, beyond the dark floor. Rover deck and wheel tracks at right. This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 4730 (14 May 2017) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

Historic 1st descent down Martian gully. Panoramic view looking down Perseverance Valley after entry at top was acquired by NASA’s Opportunity rover scanning from north to south. It shows numerous wheel tracks at left, center and right as rover conducted walkabout tour prior to starting historic first decent down a Martian gully – possibly carved by water – and looks into the interior of Endeavour crater. Perseverance Valley terminates down near the crater floor in the center of the panorama. The far rim of Endeavour crater is seen in the distance, beyond the dark floor. Rover mast shadow at center and deck at left. This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled by Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo from raw images taken on Sol 4780 (5 July 2017) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

As of Feb 13, 2019, the day the mission was declared complete, long lived Opportunity had survived or experienced over 5350 Sols (or Martian days) roving the harsh environment of the Red Planet. 

Opportunity has taken over 228,771 images and traversed over 28.06 miles (45.16 kilometers) - more than a marathon. 

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed on TV and radio about space topics.

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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events

Ken’s upcoming talks:

Apr 3: “Exploring Mars; The Search for Life & A Journey in 3-D.”  7 PM, Lawton C Johnson Middle School, Summit, NJ. Open to the public. Details upcoming. Latest results from Mars & Ultima Thule

15 Year Traverse Map for NASA’s Opportunity rover from 2004 to 2019. This map shows the entire 45-kilometer (28 mi) path the rover has driven on the Red Planet during over 15 Earth years (7.8 Mars years) and more than a marathon runners distance for over 5300 Sols, or Martian days, since landing inside Eagle Crater on Jan 24, 2004 – to current and final location at Perseverance Valley at the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover reached Perseverance Valley in May 2017 and descended about halfway by June 2018.  Its likely a water carved Martian gully. Opportunity surpassed Marathon distance on Sol 3968 after reaching 11th Martian anniversary on Sol 3911. Opportunity discovered clay minerals at Esperance – indicative of a habitable zone – and searched for more at Marathon Valley. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/ASU/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com