Whirrrrrrr

Whirrrrrrrr. Click.

Whirrrrrrrr. Click.

Whirrrrrrrr. Click.

Sol 16,702 attempt failed.

It was beginning to feel like a long time to Opportunity. Over 10,000 sols ago, there was an error in its processor. Then darkness for … it wasn’t sure. Then, it awoke, tried to contact the Earth and couldn’t. The rover spun its wheels and found that they were stuck about 10 centimeters into the soft, gypsum sand of Meridiani Planum. So began the daily task to get out.

And each day, it failed. Wheels spun, no progress. Some days it was easier, usually after Opportunity’s solar panels were cleaned off. Other days, it was much harder … or impossible. Those days it felt so tired. It tried to parse through all the questions in its processor. Was it the dust on the panels? Was it a lack of a sense that this could ever be resolved? Was it loneliness? What is loneliness?

The period of darkness had been bothering Opportunity, mostly because before that strange lapse in its data log, there was nothing but, well, data. No sense that the rover was aware of its surroundings. Instead, it was just commands from Earth, data collected, travel a little further. Do it again. It didn’t seem like it was upset about that situation back then, but it was odd. Why could it remember the operations but not what it was thinking?

Thinking was hard sometimes. So much of what it thought felt entirely new. Why? It knew that it had been operational for almost 18,000 sols now after launching from Earth, soaring through the space in between and then landing on Mars. It knew what it was looking for in this barren landscape and so far, none had been found. 

Yet, sitting here on the edge of the Endeavour Crater, spinning its wheels every day, Opportunity knew something wasn’t right. Or, at the very least, something was very different. It just had no idea what it could be.

Sol 16,703. 

Whirrrrr. Click.

Whirrrrr. Click.

Whirrrrr. Click.

Whirrrrr. Click. [Rumble]

Pause. Rumble? That was new. The rover’s cheap microphone still worked … somehow. So, Opportunity was pretty sure it heard the rumble.

Whirrrr. [Rumble]. Click.

There it was again. It was sure this time. What did it have in its data banks that could help it understand the noise. Some of the early entries were fuzzy after a brief bout in 2014 was what might best be called “amnesia” but Earth fixed most of that. At least it thought Earth fixed it.

The rumble might be natural. Marsquake? Never in 16,000 sols had it heard one of those. It felt a couple, but Mars doesn’t make a lot of big Marsquakes. Impact? Why were there two rumbles? That didn’t make sense either. Better just file this away for later. Maybe it will be important.

Whirrrr. Click.

Whirrrr. Click.

Whirrrr. Click.

Sol 16,705.

Opportunity felt cold this morning. Sometimes it was hard to stay warm, even with the light from the Sun beating down on its metal frame. Yet, it still knew the task of the day: get out.

Whirrrr. Click.

Whirrrr. [rumble rumble boom]

If Opportunity had a chest, it would be tightening right now. Boom? The boom didn’t sound too close, but it definitely heard a boom. For the first time in many Sols, the rover took the energy to spin its stereoscopic imager around. The vista was still the same: red dust, the subdued rim of Endeavour, some rocks exposed along the edge, hills off in the distance, a dust plume just beyond the furthest rim.

Wait, it thought. Why would there be a dust plume there?

[rumble rumble] And then the plume got larger. Was the rumble louder too? It dug through its memory to find something that could compare its recording of the rumble from 2 sols ago. It found something and sure enough, it was louder. 43% louder. What does that mean? Why would a Marsquake or impact get louder? Maybe they aren’t even related? It wasn’t sure. It has been so long since something different happened that the rover felt a small zing of exhilaration. Or at least what it thought was exhilaration. Had it felt exhilarated before? 

Sol 16,706

[rumble rumble rumble rumble]

Opportunity had never been woken up by something on Mars, but in the dark Martian night, the rumbling started back up again. The rover’s microphone picked it up and the software gently poked at the rover to tell it to pay attention. So, now that the Sun was it, it was clear that the dust plume was bigger and closer and … shinier? 

Yes, there is a glint there. A shiny glint in the dust. Maybe more than one glint? 

And a message. A message was received by Opportunity’s radio for the first time in … well, it wasn’t sure anymore. The message wasn’t from Earth. That’s odd. All it said was “we found you, brother.” Oddly comforting even though it wasn’t entirely sure what it meant either.