Review of Science Fiction Paper
My science fiction paper will chronicle the Mars rover Opportunity’s time on the planet Mars from a first-person viewpoint. Opportunity will describe the destitute land of an empty planet and crippling loneliness as its twin, Spirit, gets stuck and ceases communication in 2010 [1]. Finally, Opportunity will reflect on the hope it has for its wellbeing as the Curiosity rover lands on Mars in 2012 [2], only to realize that its mission is not yet over, and it has to continue wandering the red planet alone. This story will deal with the ideas of spectra as Opportunity researches the light given off by sources on Mars’ surface, jet propulsion in terms of how Opportunity made it to …show more content…
This was because Opportunity, the new Mars rover and twin to Spirit, who landed only weeks earlier [3], successfully landed on the surface of Mars [4]. At the time, Opportunity boasted some of the newest and most impressive technology available, including a miniature thermal emission spectrometer, hazard cameras, and a panoramic camera [5]. This paper will detail the changes in technology that led from the Viking landers of the 1970s and beyond, up to the Curiosity rover in 2012. From that point, the paper will identify potential technological changes in the future, in the case of NASA sending more rovers to Mars or planets even further away. This paper will also answer several questions about the logistics of the Opportunity rover, such as its purpose and objectives, the information it gathered, and observations about …show more content…
The most glaring example of limitations on the landers was their lack of mobility. There was a need for a rover that could navigate the rocky surface of Mars in order to explore new areas up close, and twins Opportunity and Curiosity proved to be up to the challenge. Opportunity’s mission was a planned 90 sols (Martian solar days – around 90 Earth days), but it’s been overstaying its welcome to this day, operating for over 4,000 days [10]. After its initial landing, Opportunity searched through rock and soil in a crater (which it happened to land in) and take high-resolution photos of its site. Next, it traveled to the Endurance crater and the location of the impact of its own heat shield, where it found an intact meteorite on the planet’s surface [11]. Early in the rover’s life, disaster struck as Opportunity lodged itself in a sand dune, rendering it nearly immobile. NASA scientists spent over a month devising the best method of escaping the sand and finally, by maneuvering each wheel a few centimeters at a time, freed Opportunity from the sand