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11 Years and Counting: Opportunity on Mars

January 22, 2015

View the many unique areas that the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity traveled during its 11 year historic journey.

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"Perseverance Valley" lies just on the other side of the dip in the crater rim visible in this view from the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on NASA's long-lived Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, whic...
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"Perseverance Valley" lies just on the other side of the dip in the crater rim visible in this view from the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on NASA's long-lived Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, which arrived at this destination in early May 2017 in preparation for driving down the valley.
Crater Rim and Plain at Head of 'Perseverance Valley,' Mars
Spirit examined spectacular layered rocks exposed at "Home Plate."
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Spirit examined spectacular layered rocks exposed at "Home Plate."
Spirit Says Goodbye to 'Home Plate'
This collage shows the variety of soils found at landing sites on Mars.
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This collage shows the variety of soils found at landing sites on Mars.
A Sampling of Martian Soils
The component images for this stereo, 360-degree panorama were taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity after the rover drove about 97 feet (29.5 meters) during t...
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The component images for this stereo, 360-degree panorama were taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity after the rover drove about 97 feet (29.5 meters) during the mission's 3,642nd Martian day, or sol (April 22, 2014).
Opportunity's Tracks Near Crater Rim Ridgeline (Stereo)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, working on Mars since January 2004, passed 25 miles of total driving on the July 27, 2014. The gold line on this map shows Opportunity's route from the la...
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, working on Mars since January 2004, passed 25 miles of total driving on the July 27, 2014. The gold line on this map shows Opportunity's route from the landing site inside Eagle Crater, in upper left, to its location after the July 27 (Sol 3735) drive.
Opportunity's Journey Exceeds 25 Miles
Transverse Impulse Rocket System (TIRS) Configuration
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Transverse Impulse Rocket System (TIRS) Configuration
Transverse Impulse Rocket System (TIRS) Configuration
NASA'S Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this westward view from atop a low plateau where Sprit spent the closing months of 2007.
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NASA'S Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this westward view from atop a low plateau where Sprit spent the closing months of 2007.
Spirit's West Valley Panorama
The "keys" to NASA's Mars rovers are in the capable hands of the official rover drivers. Learn how they operate the vehicles from millions of miles away in this 60-second video from NASA's Jet Prop...
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Mars in a Minute: How Do Rovers Drive on Mars?
Mars in a Minute: How Do Rovers Drive on Mars?
The boulder-studded ridge in this scene recorded by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is "McClure-Beverlin Escarpment," informally named for Jack Beverlin and Bill McClure, engineers who on...
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The boulder-studded ridge in this scene recorded by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is "McClure-Beverlin Escarpment," informally named for Jack Beverlin and Bill McClure, engineers who on Feb. 14, 1969, risked their lives to save NASA's second successful Mars mission, Mariner 6, on its launch pad.
Opportunity's Southward View of 'McClure-Beverlin Escarpment' on Mars (Stereo)
A team of about 50 men and women in white and blue cleanroom smocks and bonnets stand and sit around their creations: Spirit and Opportunity. The twin rovers of the Mars Exploration Rover mission...
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A team of about 50 men and women in white and blue cleanroom smocks and bonnets stand and sit around their creations: Spirit and Opportunity. The twin rovers of the Mars Exploration Rover mission are about the size of golf carts. The significantly smaller, microwave-sized Sojourner rover from the 1997 Pathfinder mission sits in the middle.
Team members in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility
Composition measurements by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity confirm that this rock on the Martian surface is an iron-nickel meteorite.
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Composition measurements by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity confirm that this rock on the Martian surface is an iron-nickel meteorite.
'Block Island' Meteorite on Mars, Sol 1961
This stereo view was assembled from images taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 337th martian day, or sol (Dec. 14, 2004). Spirit's position, ca...
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This stereo view was assembled from images taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 337th martian day
Spirit's Surroundings on Sol 337 (3-D)
This stereo view was taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on the rover's 87th martian day, or sol (April 1, 2004), just after Spirit left "Bonneville Crater." It sh...
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This stereo view was taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on the rover's 87th martian day, or sol
Eyeing the Drive Ahead After 'Bonneville' (3-D)
On January 24, 2017, Opportunity celebrates her 13 years on Mars. On Earth, she's officially a teenager and she's been behaving like one.
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Six Ways Opportunity is like a Teenager
Six Ways Opportunity is like a Teenager
This full-circle, stereo panorama shows the terrain around the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the 3,071st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Sept. 13, 2012).
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This full-circle, stereo panorama shows the terrain around the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the 3,071st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Sept. 13, 2012).
Opportunity's Surroundings on Sol 3071, Stereo View
This scene from NASA's Mars rover Opportunity shows "Wharton Ridge," on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The ridge's name honors the memory of astrobiologist Robert A. Wharton (1951-2012). The ...
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This scene from NASA's Mars rover Opportunity shows "Wharton Ridge," on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The ridge's name honors the memory of astrobiologist Robert A. Wharton (1951-2012). The scene is presented in enhanced color to make differences in surface materials more easily visible.
Mars Rover Opportunity's Panorama of 'Wharton Ridge' (Enhanced Color)
Entry, descent and landing manager, Rob Manning (facing camera), hugs Richard Cook, the current Mars Exploration Rover project manager after Opportunity's successful landing at Meridiani Planum, Mars.
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Entry, descent and landing manager, Rob Manning (facing camera), hugs Richard Cook, the current Mars Exploration Rover project manager after Opportunity's successful landing at Meridiani Planum, Mars.
Opportunity: Landing
This synthetic image of NASA's Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover inside Endurance Crater was produced using "Virtual Presence in Space" technology.
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This synthetic image of NASA's Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover inside Endurance Crater was produced using "Virtual Presence in Space" technology.
Opportunity on 'Burns Cliff' (Simulated)
Engineers for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission are completing assembly and testing for the twin robotic geologists at JPL. This
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Engineers for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission are completing assembly and testing for the twin robotic geologists at JPL. This
Assembly and Testing Mars Exploration Rovers
Overhead and on-the-ground views of the 25-mile journey NASA's Opportunity Mars rover has made since landing in 2004. (No audio)
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Opportunity's Long Tracks on Crater Rim
Opportunity's Long Tracks on Crater Rim
With the parachute deployed, three retrorockets fire their engines, suspending the lander 30 - 50 feet above the Martian surface.
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With the parachute deployed, three retrorockets fire their engines, suspending the lander 30 - 50 feet above the Martian surface.
Mars Exploration Rovers: Descent Artwork
The rock abrasion tool on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit ground two holes in a relatively soft rock called "Wooly Patch" near the base of the "Columbia Hills" inside Gusev Crater on Mars.
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The rock abrasion tool on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit ground two holes in a relatively soft rock called "Wooly Patch" near the base of the "Columbia Hills" inside Gusev Crater on Mars.
Two Holes in 'Wooly Patch' (False Color)
This enhanced-color view of ground sloping downward to the right in "Perseverance Valley" shows textures that may be due to abrasion by wind-driven sand. The Pancam on NASA's Mars rover Opportunity...
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Wind's Marks in "Perseverance Valley" (Enhanced Color)
Wind's Marks in "Perseverance Valley" (Enhanced Color)
From left: Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters, Dr. Ed Weiler, associate administrator, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Pe...
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From left: Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters, Dr. Ed Weiler, associate administrator, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Pete Theisinger, (former) Mars Exploration Rover project manager and JPL lab director, Dr. Charles Elachi celebrate the success of Spirit's landing and transmission of first images.
Spirit: First Images
On the 20th anniversary of the landing of Spirit and Opportunity, celebrate NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Project with this two-sided poster that lists some of the pioneering explorers’ accomplishm...
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On the 20th anniversary of the landing of Spirit and Opportunity, celebrate NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Project with this two-sided poster.
Spirit & Opportunity 20th Anniversary Poster

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