NASA Mars probe is crippled

[nivek]

NASA Mars probe is crippled by planet-wide dust storm which left the solar-powered rover uncontactable and in 'sleep-mode', as 14 million square-miles are coated in powder

• NASA has confirmed the Opportunity rover is 'asleep' as it waits out a massive dust storm blanketing Mars
• Flight controllers tried late Tuesday night to contact Opportunity, but the rover did not respond, NASA said
• The 'unprecedented' storm has been growing since the end of May and now covers one-quarter of the planet

The animation above shows how the storm has battered the Opportunity rover over the course of several days. Scientists say they are concerned about its fate, but remain hopeful it will wake back up when the storm dies down.

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[The shadow]

That litte rover endured 15 years of what mars threw at it. If indeed it is the end that litte rover earned its stripes.

 

[Toroid]

Apparently a dude on Mars cleans rovers. NASA should give him a call.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6Z4GXjYMjc

 

[nivek]

Apparently a dude on Mars cleans rovers. NASA should give him a call.

According to this article the janitor works at night, 3rd shift...

Mystery of Mars rover’s ‘carwash’ rolls on

The rovers landed on Mars in January 2004 with solar cells capable of providing more than 900 watt-hours of electricity per day. Spirit’s output has dropped to about 400 watt-hours, partly because Martian dust has caked its solar panels.

Opportunity’s output also declined at first – to around 500 watt-hours – but over the past six months it has regained power. Lately, its solar cells have been delivering just over 900 watt-hours.

Rover team leader Jim Erickson at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told New Scientist that a process still not understood has repeatedly removed dust from the solar panels. “These exciting and unexplained cleaning events have kept Opportunity in really great shape,” he says.

Whatever the process, it has taken place while Opportunity was parked during the Martian night. On at least four occasions over a six-month period, the rover’s power output increased by up to 5% overnight. At the time, the team speculated that wind may have swept the dust off the panels or frost may have caused it to clump, exposing more of the panels.

Now an inspection of the rover’s surface using its own camera has confirmed that dust has been removed from the vehicle. Erickson estimates that the cleaning accounts for about 15% of the difference between Spirit’s and Opportunity’s power output. Most of the remaining disparity is due to the difference in sunshine in their two locations.

But the mystery of why only Opportunity has been cleaned remains.

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[humanoidlord]

this rover has stood active more time than anything we have sent to the surface of any space body
lets hope this isnt the end