Fall in love with two boxes of wires

Good Night Oppy (E, 105 mins) Directed by Ryan White Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★

When Nasa sent twin robot explorers Spirit and Opportunity off on their mission of Mars in 2003, they hoped they might last 90 days.

Exposed to the dust of the Red Planet, three months was believed to be about how long the solarpowered rovers could last before their regenerative arrays would become clogged.

Director Ryan White’s charming and thoroughly entertaining documentary details how, through luck, determination and problem-solving, one of them would last more than seven years, the other twice that.

Using archival footage, stories from the pair’s scientific and engineering handlers, the dulcet tones of Angela Bassett and photorealistic special visual effects and animation by Industrial Light & Magic, this incredible and inspiring story of two boxes of wires – billion-dollar American national assets – comes to heartwarming and heart-rending life.

You’ll believe a rover can feel, as you fall in love with them and their adventures.

White, whose previous subjects have included tennis player Serena Williams, sex therapist Dr Ruth Westheimer and The Beatles’ secretary Freda Kelly, here essentially takes the soup-to-nuts tale of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab’s attempt to answer one of the great mysteries of the universe – to paraphrase David Bowie himself, was there life on Mars? – and turns it into an emotional rollercoaster that makes Matt Damon’s potato planting seem pedestrian by comparison.

There’s the race to make the planet-alignment window for launch a decade after the project was first proposed, the 300-millionmile hole-in-one required for a successful, safe landing (until this point, two-thirds of Mars missions had ended in failure), close encounters with boulders and dust devils, double-length winters, software and hardware challenges and an audacious attempt to carry out ‘‘an act of pure robotic vanity’’.

What comes across is the passion, enthusiasm and sense of family among the Pasadena-based lab’s scientists and engineers – whether it’s taking lessons from the rovers into their own lives on Earth, or coming up with the perfect ‘‘wake-up song’’ each day to reflect the right mood (everything from Wham! to Katrina and the Waves, George Harrison and Abba gets an airing).

A tale full of spirit and a celebration of scientific endeavour, don’t miss the opportunity to catch this inspiring true-life tale with all your wha¯nau – either on the big screen, or at home.

Good Night Oppy is screening in select cinemas and will debut on Prime Video on November 23.