Little robot that could

It’s not often in the high-tech world of planned obsolescence that a robot over-delivers.

So when NASA declared this week that the Mars rover, Opportunity, had reached the end of its mission, scientists and science fans around the world actually mourned. And understandably so.

The little robot that could was expected to last only 90 Martian days, or sols, on the so-called Red Planet when it landed in January 2004 — before the advent of Facebook or the iPhone.

Instead it kept on chugging, beaming home signals until June of last year when a planet-wide dust storm engulfed the little guy, starving it of the solar rays that fuelled it.

Not that NASA scientists who had grown up with the robot — some were in high school when it launched — gave up on it at that point. They sent 1,000 recovery demands to Opportunity. But when it still didn’t reply, even after enduring windstorms that should have cleaned dust from its solar panels, scientists had to admit its mission was over.

“Even though it’s a machine, it’s still very hard and very poignant,” said John Callas, the Mars Exploration Rover Mission project manager, capturing the mood of fans around the world who launched a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #SaveOppy. Still, Opportunity did not operate in vain. When it landed, scientists wondered whether there had ever been water on Mars, making the planet hospitable to life. Thanks to Opportunity, we now know Mars is a planet where water not only existed, but flowed freely and abundantly.

Now the question is: Did something swim in those waters and if so, how do we find it?

Answers to those questions may come from the next-generation rover that NASA will send to Mars in 2020.

Long may it explore.