A 2013 image of the Martian surface snapped by the Opportunity rover Photo: NASA
The NASA press release explains that dust storms are measured with a number called “tau,” with higher tau indicating a more opaque atmosphere. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a satellite that circles the planet, can estimate the tau by observing the surface. The rover needs a tau no higher than 2 in order to charge its batteries. Normally its environment’s tau is 0.5, and during the storm, it was as high as 10.8. At present, the tau is somewhere between 2.1 and 2.5, according to the Opportunity team—so they don’t expect to hear from the rover just yet.
Meanwhile, NASA engineers are pinging Opportunity, hoping to hear a response back. After that first response, it will take a few weeks to gather information about the rover’s current state and determine what kinds of damage it might have suffered.
To protect itself in the event of an error, the Opportunity has automatic safe-mode type behaviors, called fault conditions. NASA scientists expect that the rover has gone through low-power, mission clock, and possibly uploss fault conditions, according to the newest Opportunity update. Low-power faults make the rover hibernate, clock faults tell the rover to rely on things other than its internal clock to make decisions, and uploss faults tell it that its normal communication systems aren’t properly functioning.
NASA has put together a playlist of songs it has used to try to rouse the rover. It’s a boring playlist without any hip-hop or dance music that I, too, would try to sleep through. Maybe I’d wake up for Queen or Bowie.
Hope to hear from you soon, Oppy!
[NASA JPL]