This is the first time this has happened since Opportunity arrived on Mars. A strong Martian sandstorm has forced the NASA rover to cut communications with Earth and turn off all its systems except the mission clock. The rover is silenced until further notice (at least several weeks).
Opportunity has pushed its limits for more than a decade, but NASA fears the worst as the rover tries to survive a very intense dust storm.
“[The rover] has fallen asleep and is waiting for the storm to pass ,” said John Callas, Opportunity project coordinator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, United States. a news conference.
The storm covers almost a quarter of the Martian surface and NASA clarifies that the dust has become so thick that no sunlight reaches the surface.
NASA engineers last had contact with Opportunity on June 10, when it sent a message from its position on a slope in the Valley of Perseverance on Mars, a place with a very appropriate name for the current situation of the rover.
The temperature of Mars is dropping, and Callas explained that Opportunity must stay warm enough to avoid freezing its on-board computer, a fate NASA believes the Spirit rover suffered in 2010 after being trapped in the sand. If the temperature drops below -40 ° C, Opportunity’s electronic circuits could be damaged.
Experts believe that the rover will be able to hibernate without freezing. The dust storm brought warmer temperatures and the region of Mars is entering the summer season. “I should be able to weather this storm,” Callas clarifies.
The rover, the size of a golf cart, landed on Mars on January 25, 2004 . The initial mission was expected to last only 90 days and is now almost 15 years old.
On hold
Opportunity will stay in its “low power mode” until it can harvest more solar energy. It will then try to autonomously wake up and attempt to reestablish communications with its human conductors on Earth.
“By no means have we thrown in the towel. We have no idea how long it will last and we don’t know what the environment will be like once the storm clears,” Callas said.
Mars is not a friendly place to be right now , especially if you’re an aging solar-powered rover, but hopefully you still have a lot to say on this Martian soil.
NASA also hopes that the sandstorm has dissolved by the time it is due to land on Mars InSight, the new lander that will investigate the depths of the red planet next November.
Reference: Opportunity hunkers down during dust storm (Update)
Here’s what the Martian dust storm looks like from the ground:
