Two weeks without leaving a trace of "Opportunity & # 39;

MADRID

The thick ] dust storm which has been prolonged since mid-June by ] March silenced the rover 'Opportunity & # 39; exploring in the southern hemisphere of the red planet since 2004.

We have not heard from the rover in recent weeks, "says Ray Arvidson of the University of Washington in St. Louis, Deputy Principal Investigator of Mars Exploration Rovers Mission NASA . The dust storm on Mars leaves "Opportunity" without battery

The reduction of solar energy absorbed by solar panels due to the weak daylight forced to suspend scientific activities, then the rover has stopped sending signals to the troll mission on Earth. Curiosity, the other rover on Mars, does not suffer from this problem because it is fueled by nuclear energy

'Opportunity & # 39; sailed and treated with Mars since landing at Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004. But the last image of the rover received on Earth came from his panoramic camera during Sol 5111, there is more than 20 days of March.

The opportunity is most likely in a low power mode "In which the receiver wakes up, checks its power and, if it is too weak, go back to sleep," said Arvidson at Inside Outer Space

At some point, when the storm calms down, Opportunity should wake up, decide that it has enough energy to transmit a low gain antenna signal that says "I'm awake and good, but I go back to sleep ". This should happen when the storm pbades, until she decides to go back to a complete operation, "adds Arvidson

. We have listened, but there is still no low-gain communications and the storm continues at full speed.

The storm has become global and is still at its peak. It's been weeks since we've had any news from Opportunity, "adds Jim Rice, head of the Mars Exploration Rover geology team at the Mars Space Flight Space Facility. from the Space University of Arizona. "

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