Dr. Tanya Harrison

From Alan Yu, NPR:

One year after Curiosity arrived on the red planet, the team at NASA marked the occasion by having the rover play a song to itself.…

…

Planetary scientist Tanya Harrison worked on Curiosity. She said people might especially identify with rovers, versus other robots like satellites, because rovers have ‘eyes’ and ‘arms.’

“You can think of it as something that is alive in some way and it’s acting as this emissary for us as humans on Mars, since we can’t get there ourselves just yet.”

Read more: All Things Considered: The Whyy – Is NASA’s Curiosity rover lonely on Mars? (NPR)

From Scott Simon, NPR:

Read more: Opinion: Good Night Oppy, A Farewell To NASA’s Mars Rover (NPR)

From the Editorial Board of the New York Times: An Intrepid Explorer of Mars Falls Silent (The New York Times)

During 14 years of intrepid exploration across Mars, it advanced human knowledge by confirming that water once flowed on the Red Planet – but NASA’s Opportunity rover has analysed its last soil sample.

The robot has been missing since the US space agency lost contact with it during a dust storm in June last year and was declared officially dead on Wednesday, ending one of the most fruitful missions in the history of space exploration.

[…]

“Spent the evening at JPL as the last ever commands were sent to the Opportunity rover on #Mars,” Tanya Harrison, director of Martian research at Arizona State University, tweeted after a stint at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“There was silence. There were tears. There were hugs. There were memories and laughs shared. #ThankYouOppy #GoodnightOppy,” she wrote.

Read more: Mission complete: NASA announces demise of Opportunity rover

From Adam Gabbatt and Nicola Davis, The Guardian:

Nasa declared the 15-year mission of the veteran Mars rover Opportunity finally over on Wednesday, crediting the robot as having “transformed our understanding of our planet”.

The golf buggy-sized vehicle last made contact with Earth eight months ago, after being caught in a global dust storm.…

…The final attempt at communication with Opportunity on Tuesday night was, it seems, an emotional affair. Dr Tanya Harrison, a planetary scientist who worked on the mission, tweeted: “There were tears. There were hugs. There were memories and laughs shared.

Read more: Nasa confirms Mars rover Opportunity is dead (The Guardian)

From Marina Koren, The Atlantic:

The Mars probe came barreling in. It streaked through the planet’s atmosphere at about 12,000 miles per hour. With the surface in sight, its parachute unfurled. The probe fired its rockets to slow itself down, and inflated its airbags to cushion the landing. Touching down gently, it bounced across the clay-colored terrain.…

…As engineers prepared to transmit their final commands, through massive radio antennae positioned around the world, the mood at JPL was somber, according to Tanya Harrison, a scientist on the mission.

“The rover surpassed every single expectation we could’ve possibly had,” Harrison says. “But I’m not sure anything can fully prepare you for the wave of emotion of hearing a mission you work on is coming to an end.”

Read more: NASA Declares a Beloved Mars Mission Over (The Atlantic)

From Cal Jeffrey, TechSpot:

It appears that NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity is dead. Mars scientist Dr. Tanya Harrison tweeted that the last commands sent to the rover were met with silence. NASA will be holding a press conference (below) at 2 pm EST to discuss what this means and answer questions.…

Read more: Mars Opportunity rover appears to be dead (TechSpot)

From Devin Coldewey, TechCrunch:

Opportunity, one of two rovers sent to Mars in 2004, is officially offline for good, NASA  and JPL officials announced today at a special press conference. “I declare the Opportunity mission as complete, and with it the Mars Exploration Rover mission as complete,” said NASA’s Thomas Zurbuchen.

The cause of Opportunity’s demise was a planet-scale sandstorm that obscured its solar panels too completely, and for too long, for its onboard power supply to survive and keep even its most elementary components running. It last communicated on June 10, 2018, but could easily have lasted a few months more as its batteries ran down — a sad picture to be sure. Even a rover designed for the harsh Martian climate can’t handle being trapped under a cake of dust at -100 degrees Celsius for long

Read more: Opportunity rover goes to its last rest after extraordinary 14-year mission (TechCrunch)

From Chris Burns, SlashGear:

NASA’s Opportunity Rover mission’s craft has spoken its last, and after 5,352 days on Mars, its watch is ended. NASA’s Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA science division chief, are expected to hold a conference at 2PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, February 13th, 2019, to make this announcement official. The day this rover died will be Sol 5352 (Martian solar days in operation), after 15 years and 20 days in service, having started roving on January 25th, 2004.

Read more: Opportunity Mars rover’s watch is ended (SlashGear)