[U] After 15 Years, This May Be The End Of Contact -- From Opportunity, On Mars...

UPDATED: 02.13.2019 -- This afternoon, NASA is officially declaring Opportunity's mission at an end. No contact -- but for a rover designed to survive about four months, a 15 year operating life is nothing short of outstanding. Onward, then, into what sweet Will called the undiscovered country. . . . Namaste, to the little rover. [End updated portion.]

As another Martian winter approaches, Opportunity faces crippling damage to its battery systems. After the global Martian dust storm in the fall prevented battery charging from the solar arrays, it was pretty much presumed that we had lost the rover. One last (month long) attempt is being made by NASA to re-establish communications, but in what is the extreme Martian winter onslaught, should it not power up long enough to safely store the batteries, this will certainly be. . . the end of this rover. She served us admirably for over 15 years, though.

Here is the bit, from a pedestrian, but popular, science outlet:

. . . .The Opportunity rover is solar-powered, and last summer’s Martian storm kicked up so much dust that the sun’s rays were blocked from reaching the planet’s surface and recharging the rover’s batteries. It hasn’t responded to contact from Earth, and over the last seven months has ignored over 600 calls, leading the NASA team to believe that it may no longer be able to continue its mission.

Scientists hoped that as the storm cleared, the wind would blow away the dust which covered the rover’s solar panels so the rover could recharge. But this has not happened, and the rover remains silent. NASA has been attempting to contact the rover through a strategy called “sweep and beep,” where rather than just listening for responses from Opportunity, they send commands to the rover to respond with a beep, but they have been unsuccessful so far. . . .

Now NASA scientists are trying a last ditch attempt to contact the rover based on three unlikely but possible scenarios: that the rover’s primary X-band radio has failed, that both the primary and secondary X-band radios have failed, or that the rover’s internal clock has become offset. The team is commanding the rover to switch to its backup X-band radio and to reset its clock to counteract these possibilities. . . .

Now we wait -- knowing the odds of a ping-back are decreasing. . . with each passing night, in silence, from Opportunity, on Mars. Onward.

UPDATED @ 5 EST PM: this Blood Moon lunar eclipse vlog, shot in the UK, from last Sunday, is intoxicating viewing -- do watch (as long as we are on a Space Science Sunday roll) -- smile:



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