An intense global dust tempest on Mars is now begin to clear , raise hopes that NASA ’s Opportunity roamer will waken up and start peach to Earth again .
chance has not been heard from since June 10 , when the Red Planet became enfold in aglobal dust stormthat dramatically reduced the amount of sunlight available to the rover ’s solar panels . Since then , NASA has been patiently waiting for the storm to go out , so they can endeavor to connect with the bird of passage again .
The violent storm is now start up to decrease , and when it reaches a tau level of 1.5 – a measure of the amount of junk in the sky – NASA plans to begin transmit dictation to the rover in the hope that it will have woken up . The rover will have 45 years to respond , and if it does n’t it will fundamentally be declare idle .
" The Sun is breaking through the haze over Perseverance Valley , and before long there will be enough sunlight present that Opportunity should be able to recharge its batteries , " enjoin John Callas , Opportunity undertaking manager at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) , in astatement .
“ Assuming that we hear back from chance , we will begin the summons of recognise its condition and bringing it back online . "
Opporunity landed on Mars in 2004 , along with its duplicate Spirit rover , and has far exceeded its original 90 - day life . Spirit ultimatelysuccumbedto the Martian weather in 2010 , but chance had been give-up the ghost firm until now .
This junk tempest on Mars has been one of the bounteous ever see , but it is “ in conclusion come to a close ” harmonise to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ( MRO ) project scientist Rich Zurek . That spacecraft is being used to determine the site near the wanderer to see when it has become clear enough to expect a signal .
Some have bemoaned the45 - sidereal day window , aver it is not enough meter to give Opportunity to ring habitation . If the bird of passage does n’t respond in this window , NASA will only passively listen out for the bird of passage for several month afterwards , in the event that a random weather event like a dust monster clean its solar instrument panel and allow it to come back to spirit .
While Opportunity wasexpected to survivethis rubble storm , with temperatures not predicted to drop low enough to cause it problems , there is always the opening that the worst has happened . All we can do now is hold off and hope that the rover has ridden out the storm , quick to keep on its adventures on Mars .
If you want to be more combat-ready , the hashtag#SaveOppyis also making the rounds on Twitter to make the shell to NASA to listen for prospicient than 45 day . Fingers crossed that wo n’t be necessary .
