Opportunity: Landing

Researchers used NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to find a water-related mineral on the ground that had been detected from orbit, and found it in the dark veneer of rocks on the rim of En...

This false-color image shows a close-up look at the rock dubbed "Humphrey."

The second Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, was the first NASA mission lifted on what is referred to as a Delta II "heavy" rocket.

John Callas, project manager for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers mission, makes the call ending the last formal session via NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) for the Opportunity rover at Mars on Feb. ...

The color image on the left was taken by the panoramic camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the part of the rock outcrop dubbed Stone Mountain at Meridiani Planum, Mars.

These two thumbnail images, with the ghostly dot of a faint Sun near the middle of each, are the last images NASA's Opportunity rover took on Mars.

Rover team members with rover.

Landing a spacecraft on Mars is one of the trickiest things we do. This 60-second video explains how it's done, and the three landing systems we use at the Red Planet.

Dr. Wayne Lee, chief engineer for development of the Mars Exploration Rover's descent and landing systems proudly waves a broom, indicating a clean martian sweep.

This global map of Mars shows a growing dust storm as of June 6, 2018. The map was produced by the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

This view of a rock called "Block Island," the largest meteorite yet found on Mars, comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.

This is one of the first images beamed back to Earth shortly after the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit landed on the red planet.

Opportunity found an iron meteorite on Mars, the first meteorite of any type ever identified on another planet.

This is the Opportunity "Erebus Rim" panorama, acquired on sols 652 to 663 (Nov. 23 to Dec. 5, 2005 ), as Opportunity was exploring sand dunes and outcrop rocks in Meridiani Planum.

In February 2015, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is approaching a cumulative driving distance on Mars equal to the length of a marathon race. This map shows the rover's position relative...

This 180-degree mosaic of images from the navigation camera on the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows terrain near the rover during the 3,153rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work o...

As NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity neared the ninth anniversary of its landing on Mars, the rover was working in the 'Matijevic Hill' area seen in this stereo view from Opportunity's pano...

Women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory pose for a photo in mission control in honor of Women in Science Day.

This 360-degree view, called the "McMurdo" panorama, comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. From April through October 2006, Spirit has stayed on a small ...

Spirit acquired this mosaic while investigating the area east of the elevated plateau known as "Home Plate" in the "Columbia Hills." The trench exposed a patch of nearly pure silica, with the comp...

Spirit used its microscopic imager to capture these spectacular, jagged mini-landscape on a rock called "GongGong." Wind has deposited sand and dust in the holes and crevices of the rock.

As the NASA Opportunity rover team gathered to talk about the last attempts to listen for the rover’s signals from Mars, Ashley Stroupe shared her story about working with the long-lived robotic ge...

Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth -- and a ready analog for Mars' rugged, arid terrain.

Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to acquire this view of "Solander Poin." The southward-looking scene, presented in false color, shows Solander Point on the center horizon, "Botany Ba...

Cindy Oda stood up to share her experience working with NASA’s Opportunity rover during a team meeting in Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.