NASA to Share Results of Effort to Recover Mars Rover :
A brutal dust storm engulfed Mars last summer. The planet-wide tempest spared the nuclear-powered Curiosity rover, but the older, solar-powered Opportunity rover shut down as the thick dust blocked light from the Sun. Opportunity has remained silent since June 10, 2018, despite NASA’s hundreds of attempts to contact it. When a windy season on Mars began in November, scientists hoped that gusts might clear debris from its solar panels, but that hope appears to have been in vain. NASA continues to send recovery commands, but sadly, it seems the Opportunity mission has finally come to an End.
Tomorrow, we'll hold a briefing at 2pm ET from @NASAJPL, where we'll talk about the status of our @MarsRovers Opportunity. We last heard from the rover on June 10, 2018, as a massive dust storm blanketed the Red Planet. Details: https://t.co/FiG675totG pic.twitter.com/2JozMMQ4Ja
— NASA (@NASA) February 13, 2019
Sad news. Mars rover #Opportunity is probably done. Sometime tonight, a team @NASAJPL will make their final attempt to contact #Oppy. If they can't, they'll likely call the mission. Here's what happened… 1/ pic.twitter.com/oLgATexUHN
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
The last message they received was basically, “My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” They hoped that the windy season would clear dust off the solar panels (if that was the problem). Since then they've been pinging her again and again, every way they knew… 3/
— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
NASA will make a final attempt to recover its Mars rover Opportunity after it went silent on June 10, 2018 following a massive dust storm that swept across the Red Planet. The last message received from the rover was “my battery is low and it’s getting dark.”
NASA will discuss the status of its Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity in a media briefing at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) Wednesday, Feb. 13, from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The briefing will air live on NASA Television, the agency’s Website and You Tube
The briefing will follow NASA’s last planned attempts to communicate with Opportunity late Tuesday evening. The solar-powered rover last communicated with Earth June 10, 2018, as a planet wide dust storm was blanketing the Red Planet.
Credits – Source: Twitter @NASA @JacobMargolis & @tanyaofmars
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