Mars rover spotted in the photo 3 months after the silence

The long life of NASA Opportunity rover Mars has been silent since June 11 in the wake of a global dust storm this swept the red planet, obliterating the sun and preventing the rover's batteries from recharging. Despite the clear skies, the rover has not yet been awake, but it's no longer out of sight.

In an image released on Tuesday, Opportunity appears as a small dot-shaped element in a high-resolution image captured by Mars' Obiter of Recognition, showing the mobile on the slopes of the Perseverance Valley, 166 miles below. . Opportunity progressed slowly in the Martian valley when the dust storm developed.

Launched in 2003, Opportunity made an airbag assisted landing in January 2004, embarking on a mission designed to last only three months. But the sturdy spaceship was still in service 14 years later when it rocked into electronic hibernation after losing power.

NASA's Deep Space Network antennas are listening to any opportunity to call home and now send "in the blind" commands in hopes of helping the mobile phone restore its internal clock and resume the communications.