NASA launches 45-day clock to contact Mars Rover opportunity as dust storm declines

The dust storm surrounding the planet on Mars was enough for NASA to begin a 45 – day active listening period during which the agency hopes to get in touch with the Opportunity rover after three months of silence, a announced NASA yesterday (11 September).

So for the next 45 days, NASA engineers will push the spacecraft several times a day, rather than three times a week. This schedule is based on the hope that the rover is now harvesting enough solar energy to receive and respond to orders. In this "active listening" procedure, NASA will send instructions that will force the mobile to create a signal at a specific frequency if it is powered on and is not seriously damaged.

If the mobile has not yet made contact with these 45 days, NASA will have to determine how to proceed. In a statement released on August 30, the agency said it would continue to passively listen to the vehicle until the end of January. [Mars Dust Storm 2018: What It Means for Opportunity Rover]

The next phase of the recovery plan was triggered when NASA made two consecutive measurements of atmospheric opacity, called tau, less than 1.5. When Opportunity lost contact with the Earth for the first time, this measure was greater than 10. The agency hopes that the solar panels of the robot will be able to recharge the contact with the Earth as soon as the dust is removed from the Martian sky . .

When the plan was announced, scientists affiliated with the mission expressed concern Linking this active listening period to atmospheric opacity would trigger opportunity on Opportunity too soon.

That's because all this dust simply falls off, which means there's nothing to stop it from falling on the solar panels of the rover. And if the problem is dust that prevents the solar panels from charging, it does not matter if the dust floats in the air or rests on the panels. Mars has seasonal weather conditions called dust devils that could eliminate this dust, but these will not start until November – at that time, the 45 days of active awareness will have ended.

The rover has been exploring the surface of Mars since 2004, far exceeding its original 90-day Martian mission schedule (a Martian day is about 40 minutes longer than a terrestrial day). But engineers and scientists who control the vehicle have not heard of Opportunity since June 10.

They hope the robot just hibernates, waiting for the dust to settle. Anyway, the next 45 days could be the best chance for Opportunity.

Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+ Original article on Space.com.