#rip opportunity

[bird-wells214]

Rest Easy, Oppy

[somespicyshrimp]

okay. i know losing oppy is sad and yes i did cry but listen. we looked at the universe and wondered about it and we sent a little robot out there to explore the stars for us and we called it ‘her’ and ‘she,’ called her oppy short for opportunity, and when she met her end, we cried for her. we knew she was just a robot, just machinery, we knew she had no feelings, no sentience, but we grieved anyway. we looked at her, this machine we sent places we can’t go yet, this robot we taught to sing happy birthday, and we saw ourselves. we saw something of us, of our kids and our pets, of the graves we dig for pet goldfish, of the way we cry for each other, and we cried for this little machine. we do this every day. we name our cars and roombas and alexas and space rovers, and we love them, because they are family.

because deep down, we know nothing of machinery and humanity, of metal versus skin. we just know that we loved oppy and we mourn the things we love. maybe it’s silly to love our roombas and our spaceships and a little robot we sent to explore the stars but we do anyway, we love them and grieve for them and we give them names. and when they send us code to tell us that light levels are low, and so is their battery, we hear last words, they send us an update and we hear language, we hear loneliness, we make it into words.

and it’s sad right now but listen. we had no reason to love a machine millions of miles away but we did, we still do. we have no reason to mourn her, to care enough to dream about saving her someday, but we do anyway. and we had no reason to sing her happy birthday, to teach her to take a selfie, to sing her to sleep, to play her billie holiday and grieve for her and love her and cry for her and promise to someday rescue her, but we did anyway.

because we made her, we made a robot to send to the stars and she made us so proud and when we finally knew she wasn’t going to wake up, we played her a love song.

i don’t know. sometimes i just really love humans.

[chiefyarts]

A love song for Opportunity We’ll see you again soon

[pianoprincess3-blog1]

Rest in peace Oppy.

[nonasuch]

So, we'll go no more a-roving

So late into the night,

Though the heart be still as loving,

And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,

And the soul wears out the breast,

And the heart must pause to breathe,

And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,

And the day returns too soon,

Yet we'll go no more a-roving

By the light of the moon.

-Lord Byron

[pattonberry]

Roses are red, I don't feel good Mr. Stark

My battery is low and it's getting dark.

[grumfy]

Visit Original Link

i made this. i imagine this is what the surface of mars sounded like to oppy in the last moments on the cold, lonely surface of mars

There is a red world that you dreamed about secondhand. It was not your dream, but it was a path that was tread through the eyes and ears of layers of strangers you saw once in passing. A dream of crimson that leaked to your own blue planet and seeped in the crevices of the Schrodinger of the universe, humanity, infinitely meaningful and infinitely meaningless. And in this dream, you imagined you were young. You dreamed you ran across scarlet dunes of dust and ruby shards until you collapsed in a euphoric mounds of laughter, the chiming bells of childlike wonder and curiosity sounding as you explored and wondered and wandered the expanse of the unknown. You were not jaded, you were no longer bitter or old. Adventure returned to you in fits of golden mystery and bejeweled youth that you left behind on the final day you went outside to play pretend. A newborn, a naked babe to the earth you dreamed of more than you could see beyond the stars as you lived for more than anyone could ever hope.

Rest easy now, seasoned traveller. Lay your head in the fields of carmine and drift into an endless ocean of starlight and sand. Enshrine yourself and your heart in dust and memories of lakes and streams you swam above. We will come for you one day. Until then, go into that good night gently, and fall asleep with the promise that we have not forgotten you.

Thank you, Opportunity.

[blasteffect]

'My battery is low and it's getting dark'

Mars rover Opportunity's last message to scientists.

Opportunity outlasted its 90 day mission, spending 15 years exploring Mars and sending back vital data to NASA scientists on Earth.

RIP Opportunity: NASA's Rover Truly Inspired All Of Us To Dream Of Mars Through Its Epic Photos !