It ’s not unusual for humans to want to commemorate an important instant or milepost with a tattoo . It ’s also not strange for people to not exhaustively check what they ’re getting done before receive it permanently inked onto their peel forever and a day ( we’relooking at you , Ariana Grande ) .
Which is precisely what one man did when we finallysaid goodbye to Opportunity , the little Mars rover that could , last week .
After 15 years on the Red Planet send backvital data , NASA accepted that the rover had yield to the junk storm on Mars that had caused it tolose contactback in the summer .
The last substance it transmit back to Earth was the grievous “ My battery is small and it ’s getting dark , ” which is the content the obscure man got tattooed on his right-hand shoulder joint , along with a characterisation of plucky old Opportunity .
Only , it ’s not . That ’s Curiosity .
And the Internet is not letting him live it down .
The photograph of the tattoo was shared by Charles Finch on Twitter , who was quick to point out it was n’t his tattoo , and to be genial to the person whose it is .
Not that that stopped people .
It may not be something a nonchalant observer would notice , but if you ’re into space exploration enough to get it tattoo on your back , you‘d think you get laid your rovers .
Although a pair of people did try to reckon on the bright side .
Opportunity , of course , is the rover with a 90 - day military mission that end up lasting 15 years and won the Black Maria of the people ( register the delicious obituary byTom Whipplefor The Timeshere ) . launch in 2003 , Oppy set ashore on Mars in January 2004 to roam around a spot , collect some data , and then in all likelihood drop dead , buried under a debris tempest that would block its solar panels thanks to Mars ’ want of protective atmosphere . Instead , it kept going mightily up to June 2018 , when thefated dust storm , the cock-a-hoop since its arrival , appeared .
With a heroical effort , on June 10 , it used what would turn out to be the last of its battery ability to send that black message – which science reporterJacob Margolis , who first pinch it , has clarifiedis a “ poetic transformation ” of Oppy ’s farewell .
Curiosity , on the other hand , isalive and well on Mars . Since arriving in 2012 , its mission is to exploreGale craterand field of study the Martian climate and geology . Although Curiosity never play its older sibling , being 8,400 klick ( 5,200 miles ) away , it send its own parting substance to the spunky probe .
We ’re not crying , you ’re shout out .
OK , none of us are cry , we ’re still laughing at the idiot who got the wrong rover tattooed for life .
