Planetary Science

Mars Exploration Rovers Opportunity

Rover · Directed · Agency-led · Launched on July 8, 2003 · Completed · LCC: $424M/$756M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For Opportunity, papers published February 1, 2004 to March 1, 2021. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For Opportunity, papers published from 2004 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods451
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods23,741
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods83
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods137
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods3.6
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods124
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods484

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (451)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. In Situ Evidence for an Ancient Aqueous Environment at Meridiani Planum, Mars

    Squyres, S. W., 2004, Sci

    834 lifetime citations

  2. Jarosite and Hematite at Meridiani Planum from Opportunity's Mössbauer Spectrometer

    Klingelhöfer, G., 2004, Sci

    662 lifetime citations

  3. Stratigraphy and sedimentology of a dry to wet eolian depositional system, Burns formation, Meridiani Planum, Mars

    Grotzinger, J. P., 2005, E&PSL

    509 lifetime citations

  4. Eight-year climatology of dust optical depth on Mars

    Montabone, L., 2015, Icar

    437 lifetime citations

  5. The Opportunity Rover's Athena Science Investigation at Meridiani Planum, Mars

    Squyres, S. W., 2004, Sci

    425 lifetime citations

  6. An integrated view of the chemistry and mineralogy of martian soils

    Yen, Albert S., 2005, Natur

    354 lifetime citations

  7. Chemistry of Rocks and Soils at Meridiani Planum from the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer

    Rieder, R., 2004, Sci

    351 lifetime citations

  8. Mineralogy at Meridiani Planum from the Mini-TES Experiment on the Opportunity Rover

    Christensen, P. R., 2004, Sci

    349 lifetime citations

  9. Chemistry and mineralogy of outcrops at Meridiani Planum

    Clark, B. C., 2005, E&PSL

    344 lifetime citations

  10. Identification of Carbonate-Rich Outcrops on Mars by the Spirit Rover

    Morris, Richard V., 2010, Sci

    343 lifetime citations

  11. Ultrahigh resolution topographic mapping of Mars with MRO HiRISE stereo images: Meter-scale slopes of candidate Phoenix landing sites

    Kirk, R. L., 2008, JGRE

    330 lifetime citations

  12. Constraints on the origin and evolution of the layered mound in Gale Crater, Mars using Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data

    Thomson, B. J., 2011, Icar

    304 lifetime citations

  13. Sedimentary rocks at Meridiani Planum: Origin, diagenesis, and implications for life on Mars

    Squyres, Steven W., 2005, E&PSL

    288 lifetime citations

  14. The Spirit Rover's Athena Science Investigation at Gusev Crater, Mars

    Squyres, S. W., 2004, Sci

    281 lifetime citations

  15. Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): Results from Gusev crater and calibration report

    Gellert, R., 2006, JGRE

    281 lifetime citations

  16. The Río Tinto Basin, Spain: Mineralogy, sedimentary geobiology, and implications for interpretation of outcrop rocks at Meridiani Planum, Mars

    Fernández-Remolar, David C., 2005, E&PSL

    247 lifetime citations

  17. Curiosity at Gale Crater, Mars: Characterization and Analysis of the Rocknest Sand Shadow

    Blake, D. F., 2013, Sci

    243 lifetime citations

  18. Geochemical modeling of evaporation processes on Mars: Insight from the sedimentary record at Meridiani Planum

    Tosca, N. J., 2005, E&PSL

    232 lifetime citations

  19. Mössbauer Spectroscopy of Earth and Planetary Materials

    Dyar, M. Darby, 2006, AREPS

    229 lifetime citations

  20. Aeolian processes at the Mars Exploration Rover Meridiani Planum landing site

    Sullivan, R., 2005, Natur

    227 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming Opportunity in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

(((=abs:"Mars Exploration Rover" OR =abs:"Mars Exploration Rovers" OR =abs:"Spirit rover" OR =abs:"Opportunity rover" OR (abs:Spirit AND (abs:"MER-A" OR =abs:"Mars Rover" OR =abs:"Mars Rovers" OR =abs:"Mars roving" OR abs:Gusev)) OR (abs:Opportunity AND (abs:"MER-B" OR =abs:"Mars Rover" OR =abs:"Mars Rovers" OR =abs:"Mars roving" OR =abs:"Meridiani Planum")) OR (((abs:Pancam AND NOT abs:ExoMars) OR =abs:"Mini-TES" OR =abs:"Microscopic Imager" OR =abs:"Rock Abrasion Tool") AND (abs:Gusev OR =abs:Meridiani OR =abs:"Columbia Hills" OR =abs:"Home Plate" OR =abs:"Victoria crater" OR =abs:"Endeavour crater" OR =abs:"Endurance crater"))) AND ((=abs:"Opportunity rover" OR =abs:"Opportunity rovers" OR =abs:"rover Opportunity" OR =abs:"rovers Opportunity" OR =abs:"Spirit and Opportunity" OR =abs:"Opportunity and Spirit" OR =abs:"MER Opportunity" OR =abs:"Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover" OR =abs:"Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers" OR =abs:"Opportunity Mars rover" OR =abs:"Opportunity MER" OR =abs:"Opportunity tracking" OR abs:"MER-B" OR =abs:"Opportunity site" OR =abs:"Opportunity landing" OR =abs:"Opportunity mission" OR =abs:"Opportunity missions" OR =abs:"Opportunity traverse" OR =abs:"Opportunity data" OR =abs:"Opportunity Mini-TES" OR =abs:"Opportunity Mössbauer" OR =abs:Meridiani OR =abs:"Burns formation" OR =abs:"Endeavour crater" OR =abs:"Eagle crater" OR =abs:"Endurance crater" OR =abs:"Victoria crater" OR =abs:"hematite spherules" OR =abs:"Marathon Valley" OR =abs:"Perseverance Valley" OR =abs:"Erebus crater" OR =abs:"Bounce Rock" OR =abs:"Cape York") OR (=abs:"Mars Exploration Rovers" AND NOT ((abs:Spirit AND NOT =abs:"Spirit of St. Louis") OR abs:"MER-A" OR abs:Gusev OR =abs:"Columbia Hills" OR =abs:"Husband Hill" OR =abs:"Home Plate" OR abs:Wishstone OR =abs:"Columbia Memorial Station"))))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2004-02 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (11)

  1. Magnetic and optical properties of airborne dust and settling rates of dust at the Phoenix landing site Duplicate record of 2010JGRE..115.0E23D (same paper). Decision 🤖
  2. 2010JGRE..115.0F01A Editorial introduction to a journal special section; not a research paper. Decision 🤖
  3. Introduction to special section on Results from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and Opportunity Missions Editorial introduction to a journal special section; not a research paper. Decision 🤖
  4. Dust storms on Mars propel water's escape to space Science news story; not a research paper. Decision 🤖
  5. 2003JGRE..108.8097W Pre-landing outline of how rover Mössbauer data will be analysed; reports no Mars data. Decision 🤖
  6. Magnetic properties experiments and the Surface Stereo Imager calibration target onboard the Mars Phoenix 2007 Lander: Design, calibration, and science goals Describes Phoenix lander magnet experiments; mentions the rovers only as design heritage. Decision 🤖
  7. Mars Science Laboratory Mission and Science Investigation Overview of the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) mission; Opportunity is mentioned only in passing. Decision 🤖
  8. Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) Investigation Instrument description of the Curiosity rover's MAHLI camera; a different mission. Decision 🤖
  9. Radiometric Calibration Targets for the Mastcam-Z Camera on the Mars 2020 Rover Mission Instrument description of the Mars 2020 Mastcam-Z calibration targets; Opportunity is mentioned only as design heritage. Decision 🤖
  10. Making the paper Nature's Making the Paper feature, an interview about a published paper; a news item, not research. Decision 🤖
  11. Windy season fails to revive fading Mars rover Science staff news article reporting mission results; a news item, not research. Decision 🤖