Somewhere on a barren, desolate planet, a small lonely robot, the last of its kind still in operation, continues along doing its work, and whereas this sounds like a recap of a Disney movie plot, it's actually happening right now on the planet Mars.

It was exactly 10 years ago today, on July 7, 2003, that Opportunity rocketed into space, headed on a six-month journey to Mars and what has turned out to be a long mission on the Red Planet.

The rover followed its twin, Spirit, which had launched roughly a month earlier and arrived on Mars three weeks before Opportunity got there. However, after all this time, it's Opportunity that's still going. Like the plucky little Disney robot, it's been racking up an impressive collection over the years — not of trinkets, though, but of important scientific discoveries.

Although the larger, nuclear-powered Curiosity rover has taken over more of the headlines from Mars since it touched down less than a year ago, Opportunity is still going strong and making great contributions to the exploration of Mars.

The surface of Mars

Researchers have calculated that carbon dioxide snow particles on Mars are roughly the size of a human red blood cell. Martian snow is depicted in this artist's rendering as a mist or fog that ... more

Since the rover relies on solar power, and the amount of power it gets is dependent on the angle of the Sun in the sky, the upcoming Martian winter poses a problem. To keep the rover properly charged for its winter hibernation, the science team is driving it to a nearby hill called Solander Point. There, the rover can park on the slopes, giving its solar panels a better angle to gather sunlight while it waits for spring.

Ends/AMA/08/07/13