Back on Earth, Opportunity shined – in absentia of course – for the 15th year in a row at the 49th annual Lunar & Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), held March 19th-23rd in The Woodlands, Texas, and for good reason. Under the banner of Depositional and Environmental History, six scientists took to the podium on Thursday afternoon, March 22nd to present the latest in discoveries, analysis, and progress made about Perseverance.

They told of enigmatic clues, obvious hints, fractures and faults, a lake that might have spilled, scoured, eroded outcrops, and of winds that still blow up from the crater floor today, all of which subtly informed that we still have much to learn about Mars – and this one-of-a-kind valley. “It’s a work in progress,” said MER Principal Investigator Steve Squyres, of Cornell.

Actually, Opportunity still has half the valley to go and the MER scientists mostly agree that they need the rover to get to the bottom of Perseverance before they can effectively determine what exactly carved this feature into the crater. The primary working hypotheses – water, wind, and debris flow – remain in the running.

Still, there was a sense at LPSC that the science team seems to be closing in on figuring out how Perseverance came to be. There are a number of issues to resolve and what the rover and her human colleagues have been finding implies a complexity that may take a while to completely unravel. Time and more research will tell. More complete coverage of the MER LPSC presentations, the directions the research is taking the rover and theories being shaped by Opportunity’s recent finds, is to be posted soon in a separate MER Update Special Report.

For the time being, the scientists exploring Perseverance with this willing, ever-capable robot are living a mystery novella that as of yet has no slam-dunk ending, not yet. This off-Earth adventure, imagination-sparking distraction, reality computer-monitor series, by whatever description,is Mars exploration in real time and any Earthling with a computer and access to the Net can hitch a ride.

Departing the LPSC session with Opportunity’s mystery still “a work in progress” brought another Martian mystery to mind for some MERsters, one that was never really solved and likely will not be in our lifetimes. It was on the same day, March 22nd, eight years before, in 2010, that the team, and hence the world, received its final electronic message from Opportunity’s twin.

Stuck in a tiny sand-filled crater, as the mission’s fourth Martian winter set in, Spirit presumably had gone into a hibernation mode as programmed. Team members hoped to hear from the rover by early 2011, once she had a chance to re-charge her solar-powered batteries. But Spirit never phoned home.

More than 1300 commands had been sent to the ‘bot through the Deep Space Network X-band and the ultra-high frequency (UHF) relay communications systems with Odyssey and MRO. It was tough. No one wanted to believe it was the end. After the 14th straight month of silence and not so much as a ‘beep,’ NASA in May 2011, declared the mission of MER-A over, and before the end of June that year, after the last attempts to ping Spirit were sent, it was.

While the scientists corralled themselves in Texas, in California, Callas, in addition to overseeing mission ops, worked on the budget and proposal for NASA that will hopefully keep the team and its ‘bot effectively exploring through 2019. “We are privileged because NASA officials are talking about giving us another year of funding,” said Callas. “But the funding levels are very difficult.”

MER’s previous, approximate $14 million annual budget was cut by more than $1 million for the current mission extension (2017–2018). And the annual budget will be lower still for 2019.

Despite the fact that this rover and MER mission have produced success the likes of which has never before been seen in planetary exploration and that Opportunity is continuing to boldly go where no rover has gone before, still making discoveries and setting new records, the impact of the additional cuts likely will reduce MER’s ops staff. That could result in reduced exploration. Which, in a thoughtful world, would seem to make no logical sense.

However, with a number of newer, faster, more sophisticated robots either en route to the Cape or in development, another reduction in budget is apparently fait accompli. No negotiating room. The budget to support Opportunity will decrease again. If that is, the robot hero pioneer passes her next extension audition.

Callas and Squyres are slated to present the plan for Opportunity’s 11thmission extension to a Senior Review in early May. As the process goes, the Senior Review will make recommendations to NASA officials, who, in turn, will make the final decision. This extension will be for 2019, just one year. That’s because, beginning in 2020, word is, NASA plans to grant mission extensions every three years as opposed to every two years.

Callas projected positively: “We just have to be thankful for the funds that we do get.”