--- title: Opportunity Rover Has Defied All Odds on 15-Year Anniversary description: Opportunity's mission was supposed to be three months, but 15 years later, it's still exploring Mars. But a new dust storm could change that canonical: https://time.com/5332134/nasa-opportunity-rover-15-year-anniversary/ author: Gina Martinez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-06T20:39:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:33:27.812Z article:section: Science og:title: The Mars Opportunity Rover Has Defied All Odds for 15 Years. But Now, It Could Be in Danger og:description: It was only supposed to last for 90 days og:url: https://time.com/5332134/nasa-opportunity-rover-15-year-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97b61d43263d1158/6987851e524fc01386ded135/mars-rover-marathon-nasa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Opportunity-Rover-15-Year-Anniversary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Mars Opportunity Rover Has Defied All Odds for 15 Years. But Now, It Could Be in Danger twitter:description: It was only supposed to last for 90 days twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97b61d43263d1158/6987851e524fc01386ded135/mars-rover-marathon-nasa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Mars Opportunity Rover Has Defied All Odds for 15 Years. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=178e7ff1-8d52-475d-b745-00955c16275f&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: NASA Employees Speak About the Mars Opportunity Rover [Watch (HLS stream): NASA Employees Speak About the Mars Opportunity Rover](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qr4pXw1H.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2018-07-06. The rover was only meant to last for 15 days but is now celebrating its 15th anniversary._ by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Jul 6, 2018 8:39 PM UTC by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Jul 6, 2018 8:39 PM UTC NASA’s Opportunity Rover has defied all the odds and is celebrating her 15-year anniversary Saturday — but it’s unclear how much longer it will last amid the dust storm that has taken over a quarter of Mars. On July 7, 2003, [NASA launched Opportunity to Mars](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-exploration-rover-opportunity-mer/), the second of the two rovers launched that year to explore the red planet in search of signs of past life. Opportunity was initially meant to be on a 90-day mission, but is still exploring Mars and s[ending back extraordinary images and intel on Mars](http://time.com/4868627/opportunity-mars-rover-image/). Since arriving on Mars in January 2004, the 384-pound rover has made crucial discoveries that have shaped our understanding of Mars. Most notably, the evidence that at one point, a part of Mars had water for an extended period of time — meaning the planet had the right conditions to support microbial life, a necessary requirement for sustaining life on Earth. The rover has also investigated two craters on Mars, Victoria and Endeavour, [according to NASA](https://www.space.com/18289-opportunity-rover.html). Opportunity, which is powered by solar energy, has been in [hibernation for weeks](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7155) following [a giant dust storm swirling on Mars](http://time.com/5311814/nasa-rover-opportunity-mars-dust-strom/). According to NASA, despite the lack of sun due to the storm, Opportunity was built to survive extreme colds and the rover’s batteries have stayed warm enough to function. NASA said they do not expect to hear from Opportunity until the skies begin to clear over the rover. > [](https://twitter.com/MarsRovers/status/1009540100781297664) “By no means are we out of the woods here,” John Callas, the Opportunity project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the AP. “This storm is threatening, and we don’t know how long it will last, and we don’t know what the environment will be like once it clears.” This is not the first dust storm Opportunity has weathered. In 2007, the rover was able to wait out a similar dust storm — though it only lasted a few days. But NASA said Opportunity’s energy levels are much lower this time. And while it’s unlikely that the rover will get buried by dust, the storm could cover its solar panels as well as its optical instruments on its clock that could knock it offline and cause signal problems. Prior to Opportunity’s brush with this dust storm, the rover was in exceptionally good condition, albeit a robotic arm that’s effectively gone arthritic with age. “Keep in mind, we’re talking about a rover that’s been working at Mars, hanging in there, for 15 years and designed just for 90 days,” Jim Watzin, director of NASA’s Mars exploration program, told the AP. “It just doesn’t get any better than that.” ## Transcript When we landed, we had a 90 day mission, at least that's what we thought at the time. And so we were focused on getting this done in three months, and that we wouldn't go very far from the landing site. We'd be exploring your own yard around your house. And that's the extent of the exploration we thought we would do. But we're now 14 years since they've landed, Opportunity is still going, it's gone 45 kilometers on the surface of Mars and we've greatly expanded what we've explored on Mars with these rovers, so in that sense there was no expectation of that when we landed and what the rovers have told us about Mars is that at one time Mars was much like the earth. That it had warmer temperatures, it had a thicker atmosphere and there was sustained liquid water on the surface. Now there is a lot of debate about how much water there was and where did it go, but at one time in Mars' past, it was earth- like in that it had these habitable conditions. And it happened at a time in which life started on earth So now we know, at least in our solar system, there were at least two worlds, Earth and Mars, that had similar conditions. Life started on one and we are still exploring the question of whether life started or whether there is life on Mars today. They think that, we think about Spirit and Opportunity, we sent two because we wanted one to succeed. If you think of it that way and then you look back from today and you say Opportunity is still alive, and spirit far exceeded the mission expectations. I mean what happened as a result of that was fantastic and it really spring boarded the Mars Program, to where we are today on Mars 2020, with this huge rover, that's actually gonna cache samples from our sample return. 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