english

Professor Godoy

ENG 101

March 3, 2019

Current Event Write Up

In one of the most groundbreaking missions of all time the Mars Exploration Rovers Mission has come to a heart wrenching end for one of its mightiest warriors. For those of you not familiar with the finer points, the names of the two rovers were Spirit and its sibling Opportunity. NASA made the announcement earlier in the year that they had officially lost communication with Opportunity. Both these rovers were launched back in January of 2004, Spirit landing first and Opportunity twenty-one days later. In the article, “The Mars rover Opportunity is dead. Here’s what it gave humankind” by Michael Greshko we see just how many people this news impacted. We are also reminded of all the research provided by these rovers and what they have shown us about Mars. Technology can be a beautiful thing, and Opportunity showed us a completely new world.

Nearly 15 years ago, NASA approved a proposal to launch two solar powered rovers to Mars whose life expectancy was 90 Martian solar days or sols for short. The result was nearly 15 years, because of the strong winds on Mars the dust on the solar panels would be wiped off and business would continue as usual. The rovers sent back images of what the red planet looked like up close the hills, the cooper sand, the dust storms we could see it all. More importantly, Opportunity helped in discovering that at some point there was water on Mars, and that the climate was in fact changing. This was essential for Scientist researching whether life was sustainable on Mars or not, this information was revolutionary.

Further reading of the article unfolds the beauty behind what the mission meant to the people here on earth. Scientist thought the rovers would only last 90-100 sols, never did they expect to work with one another for almost 15 years. We see the pathos effect hard at work with details such as people getting married, finishing school, and getting their citizenship. You make a family away from home and Geshko makes certain we feel that while we read. I cannot help but feel a sense of pride for Opportunity, that rover existed during my lifetime; it is like a first-born child there is no replacement.

Looking at this on a global scale all the events from launching it until its silence was advantageous to us as humans. We have become so advanced we are now looking at living on Mars, colonizing it and having an entire second planet as an option to live on. Michael Greshko states “In the meantime, Opportunity will stand as a monument to science for hundreds of thousands years- and maybe even a site where explorers pay tribute.” I could not agree more, it is our history do not erase it do not forget it, what a great foundation to build on for future generations. Lastly, scientist Tanya Harrison is quoted saying, “That would be such a powerful moment, to have humans come face to face with the emissary that they sent there before them.” Just reading that makes me proud, what a majestic moment to be before the rover that gave us so much knowledge! What an age to be alive, technology is beautiful.

Works Cited:

Greshko, Michael.”The Mars rover Opportunity is dead. Here’s what it gave humankind.” National Geographic, 13 Feb 2019, accessed 15, Mar 2019.