Opportunity Snaps Gorgeous Mars Panorama to Celebrate Its 10th Year on the Planet

Curiosity has achieved star status in the past few months as it explores the Martian landscape, but it's not the only rover poking around the red planet. Opportunity, which landed nine years ago, on January 24, 2004, on the planet, is still doing science and still retrieving valuable info.

It's not as big or as fast as Curiosity and it doesn't have the same number of instruments, but it's not obsolete just yet.

"This month, Opportunity is using cameras on its mast and tools on its robotic arm to investigate outcrops on the rim of Endeavour Crater, 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter," NASA explained the rover's current mission.

"Results from this area of the rim, called 'Matijevic Hill,' are providing information about a different, possibly older wet environment, less acidic than the conditions that left clues the rover found earlier in the mission," it added.

To celebrate entering its 10th year on the job, Opportunity took some shots of its surroundings to make up the panorama image you see above. The full image is here (6 MB).