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"The Martian dust storm that has blotted out the sun above Opportunity has continued to intensify," NASA officials wrote in a mission update Tuesday. "The storm, which was first detected on May 30, now blankets 14 million square miles (35 million square kilometers) of Martian surface — a quarter of the planet." That means Opportunity's solar panels aren't getting enough sunlight to phone home from its Perseverance Valley location on Mars.
Opportunity's failure to reply to a signal from its mission operations center at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a sign the rover has entered a "low power fault mode" in which all the rover's systems shut down except for a mission clock. That clock is programmed to wake up the rover periodically and check its power levels to see if it can call home
Scientists think the power level in Opportunity's batteries is below 24 volts. If the rover loses power for an extended amount of time, there is a chance it won't be able to power the heaters needed to keep its electronics alive. The extreme cold of Mars is thought to be what killed Opportunity's twin, the Spirit rover, after it got stuck in Martian sand in 2010.
www.space.com...
Now how does mars have 14 million square miles when its not even supposed to be bigger than earth..?
originally posted by: slatesteam
a reply to: gortex
So another one bites the dust?
originally posted by: gortex
originally posted by: slatesteam
a reply to: gortex
So another one bites the dust?
I think it all depends on how long the storm lasts , the estimate is a month but it could be longer which could be the end for Opportunity , if the internal clock loses power she won't wake up.
originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: Illiberation
Now how does mars have 14 million square miles when its not even supposed to be bigger than earth..?
14 million square miles
Canada is 9.98 million sq km on it's own , don't know what that is in miles.
www.nationmaster.com...
originally posted by: Illiberation
a reply to: gortex
The circumference of Earth at the equator is about 24,902 miles (40,075 km), but from pole-to-pole — the meridional circumference — Earth is only 24,860 miles (40,008 km) around. This shape, caused by the flattening at the poles, is called an oblate spheroid.
Now how does mars have 14 million square miles when its not even supposed to be bigger than earth..?