Opportunistic rover arrives at Duna

Year 16, Day 225

It has just been confirmed that the long awaited Opportunistic (nickname: Oppo) rover has recently arrived at the Midland Sea on Duna!

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It arrived just yesterday, and the KSA was very eager to announce it; this was one of their biggest projects since they put Kalileo into Jool's orbit awhile ago.

Oppo touched down with surprisingly little drama; just a few tense minutes of bouncing and rolling before it finally settled on the reddish sands. The rover is loaded with instruments to study Duna, including but not limited to:

• Mystery Goo containment unit
• Barometer
• Thermometer
• And even an accelerometer to study seismic data.

So far, these instruments have proven very useful on the mission and have given us valuable information about what it's like over there on Duna. It has honestly made Duna look a lot less mysterious than we thought and we now realize a bit more that Duna resembles Kerbin in so many ways.

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Its first moves were cautious: a few short drives to make sure the wheels don’t fall off, cameras scanning every dune and crater. But after the first early data coming in, scientists on Kerbin are thrilled; though some are quietly worried it might decide to roll into a crater just for fun. So far, that hasn't happened, and hopefully it doesn't.

It has a top speed a bit higher than that of Triumph, the last rover on Duna, with a total top speed of 3 meters per second. Now, given, this is only three times faster, but still... that's TRIPLE the speed of the last one!

Oppo is also, on top of being way cooler, bigger as well, and way heavier. Triumph weighed about a tenth of a ton; Opportunistic weighs a whole HALF-TON. That's a wild comparison.

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Opportunistic has already made a bunch of discoveries on Duna in just its first day on the red planet, and will absolutely continue to do so. Right now, it has its sights set on the Gnikyv 1 lander's landing site, which is only about 40 some kilometers away; Oppo might be able to do it, but just barely.

In the meantime, all we can do is wait for what this new rover discovers on the surface of Duna.