On August 15, 2014, Opportunity beamed back this panoramic image of her tire tracks while exploring the western rim of the Endeavour crater. If you look closely, you can see its tracks extend down toward Murray Ridge, a site the rover visited earlier in 2014. “It has been incredibly rewarding to be able to share the images and other adventures of the rovers with the public through The Planetary Society's website and other NASA and JPL venues,” said Planetary Society President Jim Bell the Pancam lead scientist, of Arizona State University.
“It has been the thrill of a lifetime to get to ‘live on Mars,’ virtually and vicariously, through the eyes of Spirit and Opportunity over all these years,” said Bell.
The original sense of wonder, gratitude, dedicated commitment, and brains-on-fire forward thinking that forged this now legendary mission still fuel the core of the MER ops team. By and large, these very human assets continue to resonate with and inspire every original MERster who has moved on to other things, as well as people everywhere around the world who have followed and come to know and love Spirit and Opportunity. Along with the phenomenal design and engineering and uncanny longevity of the rovers, these very human elements are why the MER mission is something truly special in the world of planetary exploration.
“I just feel lucky about being able to work on this amazing, special project,” said Stroupe, echoing the collective sentiments of the team. “I don’t think we’ll ever see the likes of this again.”
