This annotated image is a cropped version of the last 360-degree panorama taken by the Opportunity rover's Pancam from May 13 through June 10, 2018. This annotated view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see. A set of newly released photos shows what NASA's Mars rover Opportunity was looking at just before the killer dust storm hit. That storm boiled up in May 2018 and engulfed Opportunity shortly thereafter. The solar-powered robot couldn't get enough sunlight to recharge its batteries, and it went silent on June 10.

An artist's concept shows a NASA Mars exploration rover on the surface of Mars. The twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity were launched in 2003 and arrived at sites on Mars in January 2004. An artist's concept shows a NASA Mars exploration rover on the surface of Mars. The twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity were launched in 2003 and arrived at sites on Mars in January 2004. We probably should not project human traits onto machines.

During 14 years of intrepid exploration across Mars it advanced human knowledge by confirming that water once flowed on the Red Planet - but NASA's Opportunity rover has analysed its last soil sample. The robot has been missing since the US space agency lost contact during a dust storm in June last year and was declared officially dead on Wednesday, ending one of the most fruitful missions in the history of space exploration. Unable to recharge its batteries, Opportunity left hundreds of messages from Earth unanswered over the months, and NASA said it made its last attempt at contact. "I declare the Opportunity mission as complete," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate told a news conference at mission headquarters in Pasadena, California. The community of researchers and engineers involved in the programme were in mourning over the passing of the rover, known affectionately as Oppy. "Spent the evening at JPL as the last ever commands were sent to the Opportunity rover on #Mars," Tanya Harrison, director of Martian research at Arizona State University, tweeted after a stint at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.