The Opportunity rover survived on Mars for 14 years — roughly 55 times longer than its 90-day design mission — before a 2018 global dust storm so vast it turned “day into night” across the entire planet buried its solar panels, and despite NASA sending more than 1,000 recovery commands afterward, the rover never woke up
In January 2004, a golf-cart-sized robot bounced down through the atmosphere of Mars on a cluster of airbags,…
