Good Night Oppy Movie Review

In theaters November 4, 2022

Streaming on Prime Video beginning Nov. 22, 2022

“Good Night Oppy” is a documentary that is out-of-this-world. No really, it is literally out of this world, because the focus is on the planet Mars. The Red Planet has had a couple of robot rovers, and they are named Spirit and Opportunity. These mechanical marvels had been designed to last at least 90 days. Oppy lasted for close to 15 years…

NASA had several bad missions to the Red Planet. There was one that failed because of miscommunication between an international crew. European scientists and some US scientists developed a spacecraft together. But one side worked with metric measurements, and the other side did not. But neither side told the other side what was going on. The result was a multi-million dollar mission mess that failed in a big way.

A scientist named Steve Squyres worked hard to define a mission to Mars that would give NASA bragging rights one more. The main purpose was to land on Mars, but also become a rover vehicle that would be a mobile laboratory. There would be rocks to study and people might learn more about the history of Mars. Did it ever have any water? Could it have ever sustained any form of life?

With a large team of engineers, scientists, and space experts — the JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) got to work. There was an approved budget to create two duplicate spacecraft that could land on Mars and travel the surface. These rovers would be named Spirit and Opportunity. The mission was the same for each: go to Mars and do that rock hunting and analysis thing – and stay functional for about three months.

There are, as usual, many constraints to working in space exploration. The primary issue was the orbits of both the Earth and Mars. There would be a launch window, a perfect time when both planets were aligned in space. That meant the two rovers needed to be designed and built in about two and half years. Then, finally in July 2003, there was a successful lift-off for Spirit. That was followed with another launch for Opportunity only three months later.

So, starting in 2005, both of these multi-million dollar marvels bounce-landed on Mars. Yes, there was a large group of airbags that inflate to absorb the shock — and that is what allows the rovers to land. The Earth-bound support crew in Houston and another crew in Berkley (at JPL) were thrilled. Of interest is one high-school aged girl who was invited to attend the landing activities. Abigail Fraeman, who was 16 then, studied in college to come back later as a NASA scientist herself.

Spirit and Opportunity has touched down in different places on the planet. Based on interplanetary distances, it took about 10 minutes for data to travel back and forth between NASA and the rovers. When the first pictures were received back at the NASA headquarters, the engineers and scientists became ecstatic. The people of Earth could see the surface of the Red Planet, and could command the roving little laboratories where they needed to go.

Those well-designed little rovers became like family members to many of the space crew. They each had six wheels and some large solar panels on their flat back. They had a remote-controlled arm for drilling and testing rocks. They had a large center stalk that had dual cameras. It was almost as if the rover had a big giraffe-type neck, and a head straight out of a Pixar movie (you know the one!).

There was a big celebration after 90 ‘sols’ (‘sol’ is the term for a ‘day’ on Mars, which is a longer number of hours than on Earth). Each rover had come through for the team back on the Green Planet. So what comes next? There is more time to explore and see what other Martian craters and plains could offer. Only when it comes to winter on Mars, when the sunlight is weak, the rovers would be shut down to low power. Also, any time there is a raging Martian dust storm, the sun gets blocked out and the solar cells cannot help to recharge the battery.

Could there be proof of any prior liquid water on Mars? That was the biggest question. The biggest problem was facing each challenge day after day. For numerous ‘sols’ the rovers Spirit and Opportunity ran around the surface of Mars. Each would encounter issues. After many years, Spirit’s front wheel broke. Then there were more problems. She was in rough terrain and was showing wear and tear. Then after 6 years, Spirit was off-line…

Oppy (as the cute little nickname was given) was still up and roving after 6 years. In fact, this was the ‘Little Rover That Could”! Designed to be a mere mechanical marvel that was expected to last about three months, Oppy showed them all. It kept taking pictures, and analyzing rocks, and moving on the surface of Mars. It did just that for another year, then two years, and then more. Overall, Oppy did not turn out the lights until she has served her Earth-bound family for 15 years.

“Good Night Oppy” is wonderful way to tell a compelling story. It keeps the focus on the Earth-bound crew back in Houston at the JPL. From the historical news footage, until more recent interviews – it is telling how visibly the people have aged. But their dedication and focused attitude on keeping the mission on track was key to the longevity.

The special CGI effects of the rovers scooting around and doing all that work on Mars was done by the genius team at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic). That is the special effects group with Lucas Films (Star Wars). They are able to bring life to both Spirit and Oppy. They are a crazy mix between the look of ‘Wall-e’, and beeb-boop sounds of R2-D2.

“Good Night Oppy” tells of a Mars rover designed for 90 ‘good nights’. But Opportunity was able to push that out to 5,352 ‘good nights’ on Mars (15 years).