"Spacecraft Emergency" NASA's Opportunity rover is fighting for its life in a Martian dust storm

uh-oh


For weeks, Mars has been besieged by a massive dust storm. A thick haze fills the atmosphere and blots out the sun, immersing much of the Red Planet in an impenetrable, perpetual night.

Caught in the middle of it all is NASA's Opportunity rover, a 5-foot-tall, bear-size spacecraft that has already defied the odds by surviving on Mars more than 55 times longer than originally planned.

For the solar-powered robot, the dust is not as dangerous as the darkness. Since the storm began two weeks ago, the amount of light the spacecraft receives has dropped to less than 1 percent of normal levels. Energy production has fallen from hundreds of watt-hours a day to almost nothing. NASA has not heard from the rover since Tuesday.

This is a “spacecraft emergency,” Mars Exploration Rover project manager John Callas said



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/06/14/nasas-opportunity-rover-is-fighting-for-its-life-in-a-martian-dust-storm/?utm_term=.f278932d6bb9

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Rovers were designed for a 90 day mission lifespan, been going for 15 years, that's good engineering