A massive dust storm that is about the size of our continent (that is to say, North America) has now shrouded Mars, and has covered Opportunity for the last seven days or so. Not only is much of the planet in the dark, but so too is Earth about Opportunity’s whereabouts and her status. Will Opportunity make it?
It’s been a decade and a half since NASA’s Opportunity rover has been home on Earth. Over the course of the last 15 years, this trusty robot has been roaming the surface of the Red Planet, but now, we may have lost her — at least, temporarily. A massive dust storm that is about the size of our continent (that is to say, North America) has now shrouded Mars, and has covered Opportunity for the last several days. Not only is much of the planet in the dark, but so too is Earth about Opportunity’s whereabouts and her status — alas, because the robot’s solar panels have been unable to receive light, its battery status has dropped enough to put Opportunity to sleep, which means she’s no longer transmitting information to Earth.
“It’s gotten so bad she’s not talking to us,” Bill Nelson, chief of the Opportunity mission’s engineering team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Mashable . “It’s a bit scary — we like to hear from our rover.”
Well over a week ago on June 8, NASA announced that Opportunity had been covered by the veil of “perpetual night” thanks to the massive dust storm. And although Opportunity has weathered many a storm since it first touched down on the Red Planet’s surface in 2004, this one is particularly bad. Now, we’re all waiting with bated breath to see whether or not the rover will be able to re-power once the storm finally calms.
“If they go completely dead, you’re usually in trouble,” Nelson noted.
But Opportunity has beat the odds before. After all, the 400 pound rover was only meant to be operational for 90 days. It’s exceeded that expectation thus far by a factor of more than 56, and it’s possible that it’ll keep defying expectations.
As Nelson said, “I’m fairly optimistic at this point. I’m hopeful that we may be able to recover.”
That said, the dust storm that Opportunity is facing now is exactly what scientists initially thought would kill the rover. After all, with Martian dust and grime accumulation, it seemed like only a matter of time before the solar panels were obscured enough to make it impossible for Opportunity to keep on keepin’ on. However, Nelson explained, “We’ve been lucky that winds or dust devils have come and blown off the arrays. The wind blows off the bulk of the dust.”
He added, “We’ve been fairly fortunate in missing the regional and global dust storms.” The same could not be said for Opportunity’s sister, Spirit, who met her end in 2010. That poor rover ended up getting stuck in a part of Mars that didn’t receive as much sunlight, and before engineers were able to move Spirit to a more advantageous location, time ran out. Apparently, Spirit “froze to death.”
In any case, we’ll have to see if Opportunity can live up to her name and battle out this latest obstacle. We’re certainly keeping our fingers crossed.
