Ability to hibernate for a dust storm

Launched in July 2003, the rover Opportunity landed on January 25, 2004 on Mars. On June 10, 2018, it was the last time the rover communicated with NASA because of the Martian dust storms that covered the entire planet. On June 12, he was hibernated or in safe mode. "Safe mode is a mode of operation of a modern spacecraft in which all nonessential systems are stopped and only essential functions such as thermal management, radio reception and attitude control. are active. "

Several times a week there have been attempts to communicate with Opportunity using NASA's Deep Space Network, DSN. "DSN is a global network of communications equipment for US spacecraft … that supports NASA's interplanetary space missions." It's a group of big radio antennas around the world.

On August 16, 2018, NASA stated that it thought the storm could shrink enough so that "Opportunity Phone", but that it would not happen for weeks or months, because it could be put online a bit to both how quickly the atmosphere emerges. As the rover and his batteries were in good condition before the storm, NASA is optimistic but said: "Nobody will know how the rover is doing before speaking.

Some fear that the sand has covered the solar panels of the rover, thus preventing recharging its batteries even after the storm. However, many think that the panels will be discovered because the wind swirls, preventing a deep cover.

The temperature worries some because the mobile will stop working if it's too cold with the dust blocking the sun. But dust storms usually warm up the Martian atmosphere and the current one started in the summer at Opportunity. This is therefore a reason for optimism.

The measure of the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of Mars is called "tau". According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, "the higher the tau value, the less sunlight is available; the last tau measured by Opportunity was 10.8 on June 10th. For comparison, an average tau for its location on Mars is usually 0.5. JPL engineers predict that Opportunity will need less than 2.0 tau before the solar powered mobile can recharge its batteries. JPL can be found at jpl.nasa.gov.

NASA said it hoped to "gather unique scientific data on this global phenomenon" using DSN and spacecraft in orbit around Mars. There is a wide angle camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005, which will monitor the surface of Mars to help estimate tau.

You can follow updates to the Martian dust storm and tau measurements at mars.nasa.gov and JPL.