After months of fruitless attempts at reviving her—and she was 'her' to those who knew her—scientists gave up. But she helped pave the way for human visitors to Mars.
Tanya Harrison was an undergraduate student when the Mars Exploration Rover named Opportunity landed on the red planet in 2004. She was studying astronomy and physics at the University of Washington at the time, and she hoped that in her future career, she might get to work on a rover like Opportunity.
Harrison spent three years working on Opportunity, and she was one of the many tearful scientists who bade her farewell on Feb. 12, when, after months of fruitless attempts to regain contact, the mission was declared dead. By the time she—and Opportunity was “she” to those who worked with her—last communicated with Earth in June, the rover had broken the record for extraterrestrial travel by traversing more than a marathon’s worth of Mars .
Dr. Tanya Harrison standing outside JPL with the “sol sheets” from jer first solo shift as Pancam Payload Downlink Lead. Once NASA made the call, it invited everyone who had worked on the mission to the JPL to witness the final attempts at contacting Opportunity before declaring the mission dead. “I knew as soon as I saw that email that I wanted to be there,” says Harrison, who paid her own way to go.
The rover team had been together in one form or another for more than 15 years, as Opportunity’s journey on Mars stretched impossibly far past its expected lifespan. “I think for some people, you have this sense of, ‘Oh gosh, what do I do now?’ ” Harrison’s favourite images from Mars are the ones in which you can see Opportunity’s own tracks in the dust, because it’s a powerful reminder that humans are actively doing something on another planet. “The fact that we have the ability to launch something toward a moving target 200 million km away, land it where we want it to go, and we can drag it up to specific rocks on the other planet and do science on them,” she says. “It blows my mind.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
All of the things Jody Wilson-Raybould can (and still can't) say today - Macleans.caAndrew MacDougall: The former AG hasn't been freed to give her whole truth, but we will get answers about what went wrong and how bad it'll be for the PM
Read more »
How a Canadian journalist grew close to a Haiti's earthquake miracle child - Macleans.caCatherine Porter explores the ethics of a journalist getting involved with a little girl's future—helping to send her and other Haitian kids to school
Read more »
Netflix Canada in March 2019: What's coming and going - Macleans.caHere’s Flare’s rundown of all the new shows and movies worth checking out this March on Netflix in Canada—and what to binge before they’re gone
Read more »
Long live the King - Macleans.caChris Inchley spent thousands of hours on Sea Kings, the military helicopters that served Canada for 55 years. He piloted the final Sea King flight in service to Canada.
Read more »
Princess Patricia: The first modern princess - Macleans.caPatricia was a working princess and artist who supported the suffragette movement. 100 years ago, she married for love.
Read more »
Trudeau gives Wilson-Raybould the all clear to talk - Macleans.caJagmeet Singh wins in Burnaby South, but NDP loses Mulcair's old seat. Meanwhile Trudeau grants Wilson-Raybould freedom to speak.
Read more »
Best of Netflix Canada in March: The three things you should watch this month - Macleans.caWhat should you watch from the long list of TV shows and movies arriving or departing from Netflix Canada in March 2019? Our critic makes his picks (plus a bonus for HBO Canada watchers)
Read more »
Bombshells and byelections - Macleans.caPolitics Insider for February 25: Now it's Wilson-Raybould's turn to speak, voters in Burnaby have their say on Singh and Liberals make the pitch for Trans Mountain 2.0
Read more »