{"id":13731,"date":"2018-06-21T22:36:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T14:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/growing-dust-storm-encircles-mars-rover-remains-silent\/"},"modified":"2018-06-21T22:36:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T14:36:09","slug":"growing-dust-storm-encircles-mars-rover-remains-silent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/growing-dust-storm-encircles-mars-rover-remains-silent\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing dust storm encircles Mars, rover remains silent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A self-portrait taken by NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover taken June 15. A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover\u2019s location in Gale Crater. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The effects of a global dust storm on Mars have been observed by NASA\u2019s plutonium-powered Curiosity rover, which continues its scientific campaign as the thick veil of dust continues starving the aging Opportunity rover of solar energy on the other side of the planet.<\/p>\n

The dusty conditions have not limited any of Curiosity\u2019s activities because it draws electricity from a radioactive power source, but images returned by the rover in recent days show distant ridges disappearing in an orange haze.<\/p>\n

The storm\u2019s impact on Opportunity is a different story. Ground controllers last received a signal from Opportunity on June 10, and engineers believe the rover tripped a low-power level and went into sleep mode, waiting for its batteries to charge sufficiently to radio engineers on Earth.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, NASA said the dust storm had encircled the Red Planet with global coverage, and a fleet of orbiters circling Mars are surveying the storm\u2019s evolution. Curiosity is acting as a dust storm research outpost on the surface, monitoring weather changes as it continues its primary science mission of studying Martian geology.<\/p>\n

Opportunity\u2019s master clock is designed to wake up the rover periodically to check its battery charge. But the rover will go back to sleep if the batteries do not hold enough electrical charge, and the clock will set a new time to wake up for another battery check.<\/p>\n

If power levels plummet too low, the clock itself will stop running, but the rover\u2019s on-board software is programmed to switch on Opportunity\u2019s computer automatically once its batteries are sufficiently charged. In such a case, the computer would check to see when the sun is in the sky, then attempt to send a signal to Earth.<\/p>\n

Opportunity carries eight radioisotope heater units \u2014 each using the radioactive decay of plutonium to produce about one watt of heat \u2014 to keep the rover\u2019s internal electronics from getting too cold. NASA officials said last week the dust storm has raised global temperatures on Mars, and engineers believe the rover can withstand the freezing temperatures it was expected to encounter during hibernation.<\/p>\n

\u201cA recent analysis of the rover\u2019s long-term survivability in Mars\u2019 extreme cold suggests Opportunity\u2019s electronics and batteries can stay warm enough to function,\u201d NASA officials wrote in an update Wednesday. \u201cRegardless, the project doesn\u2019t expect to hear back from Opportunity until the skies begin to clear over the rover. That doesn\u2019t stop them from listening for the rover every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s concept of the Opportunity rover on Mars. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before the dust storm hit, Opportunity was exploring a valley lining the slope of Endeavour Crater, helping scientists investigate whether the feature formed from a water, ice or debris flow, or from wind erosion.<\/p>\n

Opportunity landed on Mars on Jan. 25, 2004, to begin a planned 90-day mission. The rover\u2019s twin, named Spirit, touched down on the Red Planet three weeks before Opportunity, and continued its mission until March 2010.<\/p>\n

The long-lived Opportunity rover has driven more than 28 miles (45 kilometers) since landing, visiting multiple impact craters across a broad plain named Meridiani Planum.<\/p>\n

NASA said Wednesday that the ongoing dust storm is comparable in scale to a storm observed by the Viking 1 lander in 1977, but is not as extensive as a 2007 storm that Opportunity previously weathered. It\u2019s also different from large dust storms observed by the Mariner 9 and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters in 1971, 1972 and 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose storms totally obscured the planet\u2019s surface, save for the peaks of Mars\u2019 tallest volcanoes,\u201d NASA said in an update Wednesday. \u201cThe current dust storm is more diffuse and patchy; it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess how it will further develop, but it shows no sign of clearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Curiosity\u2019s science station in Gale Crater, the rover has measured the thickest sunlight-blocking haze it has encountered since landing in August 2012. But Opportunity measured even an thicker haze before going into hibernation earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Scientists first detected the dust storm May 30, and they do not know when it will abate. Some of the strongest Martian dust storms can stay active for weeks or months.<\/p>\n

But researchers hope data gathered on the current dust storm will help predict similar events in the future. NASA and its international partners \u2014 Europe and India \u2014 have the largest fleet of spacecraft at Mars in history, enabling the collection of a wide array of measurements.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach observation of these large storms brings us closer to being able to model these events \u2014 and maybe, someday, being able to forecast them,\u201d said Richard Zurek, chief scientist for the Mars Program Office at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement. \u201cThat would be like forecasting El Ni\u00f1o events on Earth, or the severity of upcoming hurricane seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A self-portrait taken by NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover taken June 15. A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover\u2019s location in Gale Crater. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS The effects of a global dust storm on Mars have been observed by NASA\u2019s plutonium-powered Curiosity rover, which continues its scientific campaign as the thick veil of dust […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2927,2889,1183,367,1714,2721,1561,1563],"class_list":["post-13731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-curiosity","tag-dust-storm","tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","tag-mars","tag-mars-rover","tag-opportunity","tag-planetary-science","tag-solar-system"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}