NASA will continue to try to revive the silent opportunity of Mars Rover until January.

The clock has not run out of time. Mars rover after all.

On September 11, NASA launched a 45-day "active listening" campaign to spark the solar opportunity, which ended on June 10 after the dust storm plunged its surroundings into around. darkness.

The 45-day period has expired late last week. But NASA will continue to listen actively – a strategy that involves both sending orders to Opportunity and listening to the looks that the six-wheeled robot could make – for several months at least, officials said. agency yesterday (29 October). [Mars Dust Storm 2018: What It Means for Opportunity Rover]

"After a review of the progress of the listening campaign, NASA will continue its current strategy of attempting to make contact with the Opportunity rover in the foreseeable future," wrote NASA officials in an update of the mission yesterday (October). 29).

"Winds could increase in the next few months in the location of Opportunity on Mars, which would have the effect of driving dust off the solar panels of the rover," they added. "The agency will rebadess the situation in the time frame of January 2019."

The change in strategy translates into a commitment to continue with opportunity. Members of the mission team and NASA officials had previously announced that they would continue to listen to any rover signals at least until January.

Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004, a few weeks after his sister Spirit. The two robots roamed different parts of the red planet in search of evidence of past activity in the water and much evidence of this type.

The main missions of Spirit and Opportunity were to last three months, but the duo continued to explore Mars for years. . Spirit last communicated with its managers in 2010 and was declared dead a year later. Opportunities were getting better at the edge of the endeavor crater (22 km) wide, until the dust storm this summer.

On June 20, this storm encircled the entire planet. But about a month later, it was starting to fade and the dust had so dissipated on September 11 that mission officials thought Opportunity might get enough sunlight to recharge its batteries. . This is how the active listening campaign began.

The opportunity was harsh for the extremely cold Martian nights with no extra heating to keep his bowels warm. It is therefore possible that the venerable rover, who covered more ground on the surface of another world than any other vehicle, either died of cold or suffered a "failure mode" "which he can not recover.

But Opportunity may still be alive and waiting for a strong November wind, eliminating dust, followed by an awakening from home. We will see.

Mike Wall's book on the Search for Extraterrestrial Life, " Out There ", will be published on November 13 by Grand Central Publishing. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall . Follow us @Spacedotcom or Facebook . Originally published on Space.com .