As Dust Clears, NASA Spots Possibly Dead Opportunity Rover From Space

It ’s been 107 torturesome days since NASA last listen from Opportunity , raise fears that the 14 - year - sure-enough roamer has finally die after being battered by a massive dust storm . The Martian investigation may be subdued , but a new pic taken of Opportunity from outer space is providing some much - need comfort .

If you calculate carefully , you could see a midget white dot in the center of the white square . That ’s Opportunity . The photo was taken on September 20 , 2018 , by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA ’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ( MRO ) . The satellite was just over 165 miles ( 267 kilometers ) above the control surface when it took this gibe . The square highlight Opportunity is just over a half - statute mile across .

So there it is , the hibernating Martian probe . The photograph does n’t tell us much , other than the fact that the bird of passage is n’t wholly buried under dust . in reality , the relatively clear view of chance is a sure sign that the global dust storm , which peak in June , is trulydissipating .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

At one point , the dust tempest extended across the entire circumference of Mars , piddle it a truly planetary outcome . In the area where Opportunity was working , Perseverance Valley , the dust blocked sunlight from get hold of the surface , which was bad news for the solar - powered investigation . chance had no choice but to put itself into hibernation mode , in hopes of preserving enough energy for a reboot once circumstance improved . Sadly , and quite alarming , chance has stayed quiet despite the waning storm .

On September 11 , NASA began toincrease the frequency of commandssent to the idle bird of passage . Nothing has exploit so far , but there ’s reason for optimism , as NASA explains in apress release :

The tau — a measuring of how much sunlight pass the surface — over Opportunity was estimated to be a little higher than 10 during some points during the dust storm . The tau has steadily fall in the last several months . On Thursday , Sept. 20 , when this epitome was direct , tau was estimated to be about 1.3 by MRO ’s Mars Color Imager camera .

William Duplessie

At this dot , there is n’t much more that NASA can do but bear on to pink the probe and await . Sad as its death would be , however , Opportunity has endured 60 time longer than carry . If the rover is truly dead , it would represent the conclusion of a wildly successful mission .

Correction 7 post-mortem , 10/14/18 : A previous version of this clause incorrectly stated that NASA put Opportunity into hibernation mode . NASA clarify to Gizmodo that it believes the rover put itself into hibernation manner . We rue the erroneous belief .

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