Nasa reveals the last thing its Opportunity Mars rover saw before it died

'This final panorama embodies what made our Opportunity rover such a remarkable mission of exploration and discovery'

This file computer generated image obtained on August 31, 2018 shows the Opportunity rover of NASA part of the Mars planet exploration program (NASA / AFP)

Nasa has revealed the last thing its Opportunity rover saw on Mars – and the view that marks its final resting place.

The image shows what Opportunity saw before it was swallowed up in a dust storm that knocked it offline, and from which it never woke up.

Last month, Nasa declared the robot dead, after eight months of trying to talk to it that saw more than 1,000 messages sent out into space. It brought an end to a mission that lasted almost 15 years, and revealed many of Mars's secrets.

But before everything switched off, it made one last image. Nasa has now stitched together and shared that image, which as well as being the last picture offers a look at what will now be Opportunity's home forever.

"This final panorama embodies what made our Opportunity rover such a remarkable mission of exploration and discovery," said Opportunity project manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

This 360-degree panorama is composed of 354 images taken by the Opportunity rover's Panoramic Camera (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU)

"To the right of center you can see the rim of Endeavor Crater rising in the distance. Just to the left of that, rover tracks begin their descent from over the horizon and weave their way down to geologic features that our scientists wanted to examine up close.

"And to the far right and left are the bottom of Perseverance Valley and the floor of Endeavour crater, pristine and unexplored, waiting for visits from future explorers."

The panorama was taken over 29 days last spring. It is made up of numerous images that have been stitched together by Nasa since they were sent back from Mars.

It shows its final resting place in Perseverance Valley, marking the end of a journey that took Opportunity nearly 30 miles over the Martian surface, far further than any other lander.

"This final panorama embodies what made our Opportunity rover such a remarkable mission of exploration and discovery," said Opportunity project manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"To the right of center you can see the rim of Endeavor Crater rising in the distance. Just to the left of that, rover tracks begin their descent from over the horizon and weave their way down to geologic features that our scientists wanted to examine up close. And to the far right and left are the bottom of Perseverance Valley and the floor of Endeavour crater, pristine and unexplored, waiting for visits from future explorers."

In all, the picture is made up of 354 different images, which were taken by the rover's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) from May 13 to June 10. It combines images taken with three different filters that have been edited to have the colours as they would look on the surface.

Some are till black and white, because the rover wasn't able to use its green and violet filters before it was switched off by the dust storm, in June 2018.