Editing 1504: Opportunity

This comic is talking about the robotic science platform {{w|Opportunity (rover)|''Opportunity''}}. On January 25, 2004, two rovers, named {{w|Spirit (rover)|''Spirit''}} and ''Opportunity'' were landed on the surface of {{w|Mars}} for the purpose of gathering data about the surface of Mars. The original plan called for these rovers to function and collect data for 90 days on the surface.  

Both rovers proved to be remarkably robust, with ''Spirit'' functioning for 6 years, 24 times longer than the original mission plan, before it became stuck in a sandstorm, which covered its solar panels. This was covered in [[695: Spirit]], in which the Spirit rover is also portrayed with an anthropomorphic personality.

Even after ''Spirit'' ceased to function, ''Opportunity'' continued to operate. As of the publication of this strip, it had been operating for over 11 years. This comic extrapolates the rover's resilience to absurdity for comedic effect, implying that the rover begins to operate independently, even with its original power sources disconnected, and presumably developing some form of general intelligence. It then takes a darker turn, implying that ''Opportunity'' attacks both later rovers and even human astronauts that later land on Mars. The final panel suggests that humans eventually manage to terraform Mars, but that ''Opportunity'' grows so powerful that humanity cedes half the planet to it.  

In real life, as of Feb 12th, 2019, the Opportunity rover has finally been {{w|Opportunity mission timeline|declared dead}} after 5352 Sols (Mars Days) or 5500 Earth days on Mars. On Feb 13th, 2019, [[Randall]] eulogies the Opportunity Rover in [[2111: Opportunity Rover]].

In 2023, the comic's timeline version of Opportunity is said to be still moving despite having supposedly no power source. It also started to show aggression in the span of 8 years and deactivated the {{w|Mars 2020|Perseverance rover}}, as sent in 2020. [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] can't explain how it moves, but investigating is now too dangerous. This evolution is similar to the stories of {{w|HAL 9000}} (from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|''2001: A Space Odyssey''}}) and {{w|List of Star Trek characters (T–Z)#V'Ger|V'Ger}} (from ''{{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}}''), both of which became dangerous to human beings. This, however, never ended up happening, as Opportunity "officially" stopped working on June 10, 2018.

"Everything the light touches" is a reference to a line by {{w|List of The Lion King characters#Mufasa|Mufasa}} in ''{{w|The Lion King}}''. Mufasa's son {{w|List of The Lion King characters#Simba|Simba}} then asks "What about that shadowy place?" and Mufasa tells him "That is beyond our borders. You must never go there". This was used again in [[1608: Hoverboard]], where [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a0/1608_0986x1076y_Our_kingdom_from_a_cliff.png Cueball tells the same line] to Ponytail in the left part of the world. In the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''[https://what-if.xkcd.com/48 Sunset on the British Empire]'', concerning the end of the sun shining on the British Empire, Cueball tells a child that everything the light touches is their kingdom, and the child asks (in the title text) "What about that shadowy place over there?" to which Cueball replies (also in the title text), "That's France. We'll get it one of these days."

The title text forecasts the first words of the first astronauts on the surface of Mars. At first, the astronaut copies the first words of {{w|Neil Armstrong}} on the Moon ("That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind") but it is interrupted by the ''Opportunity'' rover. Opportunity has a drill to collect Martian rock samples, but here it is heavily suggested that the drill is being used as a weapon against the astronaut.

:Hairbun: Tough little rover!