Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2021

23 MARS ROVERS T his 360-degree panorama is composed of 354 images taken by the Opportunity rover's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) from May 13 through June 10, 2018, or sols (Martian days) 5,084 through 5,111. This is the last panorama Opportu- nity acquired before the solar-powered rover succumbed to a global Martian dust storm on the same June 10. The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see. [NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU] O pportunity has found an iron meteorite on Mars, the first meteorite of any type ever identified on another planet. The pitted, basketball-size object (left) is mostly made of iron and nickel. Readings from spectrometers on the rover determined that composition. Opportunity used its panoramic camera to take the images used in this approximately true-color composite on January 6, 2005. On the right, an image of a similar meteorite that Opportunity found and examined in September 2010. [NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University] up the solar panels, but NASA could not. On February 13, 2019, the agency said the Opportunity mission had ended, after the rover had not responded to over 1,000 signals sent since August 2018. Among the most notable discoveries made by the twin rovers during their long mission are: water interacting with hot rocks, whirlpools of Mar- tian dust, an ancient hydrothermal system, sand ripples formed by wind, and a potentially habitable Martian environment long ago. MARCH-APRIL 2021