Cav's Place

Since I was looking at Opportunity‘s latest self-portrait when the big news hit yesterday, I’ll start this post with the second part of the title and say that bright days sure seem to be ahead for the little rover, and not only because it made it through its sixth Martian winter. Strangely enough, the update […]

If the information I can find is correct, this moment marks precisely ten years since Opportunity started its mission on Mars. That mission was supposed to last for 90 sols, so about 92 and a half days here on Earth, yet that little rover is still operational and producing new findings even now, after all […]

The pictures of Earth taken on July 19 by Cassini and MESSENGER were released by NASA, so now we have a few more images of our tiny and fragile world to add to Voyager 1’s Pale Blue Dot, taken in 1990, Cassini’s previous effort, from 2006, and the few taken over the years by our […]

After becoming, on May 15, the record holder for the longest distance driven anywhere other than on Earth by a NASA vehicle, Opportunity passed another milestone on June 24, when it exceeded 37 kilometers of total odometry. Based on the numbers we’ve known for the past 40 years, this should have made it pass Lunokhod […]

Yesterday’s announcement has been expected for the past few months, ever since problems with a second reaction wheel were first detected, but that doesn’t make it any less unfortunate. It was well known that Kepler‘s days were numbered and the recent safe mode event taking place under such circumstances should have probably made everyone realize […]