What Will Happen To The Mars Rover Opportunity’s Remains?

Ultimately, Opportunity fell victim to the storm, bringing its mission to an end. Unlike what early reports claimed, the rover’s last words weren’t “My battery is low and it’s getting dark,” however. Opportunity project manager John Callas reports that the rover didn’t actually say anything at all, but did transmit data indicating the skies were so dark that no sunlight could get through (via Newsweek). With its mission officially over and its power gone, what will happen to the little rover?

Jeff Moersch was a member of the Opportunity team and is now a professor of planetary science at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In an interview with Live Science, Moersch said any exposed pieces of plastic will likely decay but otherwise, the rover should stay relatively intact for quite some time. Dust was blamed for draining Opportunity’s power supply during the initial storm and it’ll probably coat the rover for the foreseeable future. Still, he doesn’t think the lost robot will become fully buried anytime soon.

The rover will eventually be buried if it stays on Mars for millions of years, but humans will likely get to the red planet sooner rather than later. Given our penchant for preserving historical icons, we will undoubtedly attempt to retrieve “Oppy” and put it into a museum where it can be rightfully honored for paving the way to Mars.