NASA: Longest-Running Mars Rover Pronounced Dead

Courtesy of NASA, Twitter

UPDATE: NASA's longest-running rover on Mars, Opportunity, has been pronounced dead, 15 years after it landed on the red planet. 

The six-wheeled vehicle was built to operate just three months. 

But it kept going and going until it was finally doomed by a ferocious dust storm months ago. 

NASA finally declared it finished Wednesday after numerous attempts to make contact.

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NASA's Mars rover, Opportunity, has been seen, but still not heard.

A spacecraft around Mars has sent back a photo of Opportunity, which has been silent ever since a massive dust storm engulfed the red planet in late spring. The rover appears in the photo as a pale dot.

    

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took the picture last week from 166 miles (267 kilometers) up. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory released the photo Tuesday.

    

The global dust storm prevented sunlight from reaching Opportunity's solar panels, and the rover fell silent in June. Although the skies have cleared considerably, Opportunity has yet to send word to flight controllers. NASA has stepped up efforts to contact Opportunity, but acknowledge the nearly 15-year-old rover may not have survived the prolonged power outage.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)