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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – NASA hopes to end its efforts soon to contact Opportunity Mars rover, which has been silent for more than four months after a dust storm, but will continue to listen to sensor signals for months.
Opportunity, present on Mars since January 2004, contacted the Earth for the last time on June 10th. A powerful dust storm spanning the globe has blocked the sun and robbed the mobile of solar energy, putting it in low power mode.
On September 11, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory stated that optical depth, a measure of Martian sky blur, had fallen to a level low enough to allow sunlight to reach the rover and generate of energy. At this point, the controllers began an effort called "active listening", during which they transmitted commands to the mobile if he was not able to reactivate and listened to any transmissions of mobile response.
After more than a month, Curiosity has not responded to these orders and this active listening effort will soon come to an end. "We intend to continue playing Opportunity on a daily basis for at least a week or two," said Lori Glaze, Acting Director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, during a presentation at NASA's annual meeting. the Division for Planetary of the American Astronomical Society. Science here.
Glaze explained that one of the factors to end the active listening campaign is to prepare for the landing of the InSight probe on November 26th. "We want to finish with InSight before we arrive on Mars and make sure all of our orbital assets are focused on a successful landing in InSight," she said.
This schedule is consistent with previous plans to try to restore contact with Opportunity. NASA announced on August 30 that once the sky cleared enough, it would attempt to listen actively for 45 days. "If we do not receive a response after 45 days, the team will be forced to conclude that the dust blocking the sun and the cold Martian conspired to cause a type of failure that the mobile will probably not recover," John Callas, Project Manager Opportunity, said in a statement describing these plans.
Some former mobile vehicle controllers criticized the plan, arguing that there was not enough time to see if Opportunity could be reactivated, especially if its solar panels were covered with dust. NASA responded that once the active listening effort is over, it will continue to listen for transmissions through Opportunity for the coming months, but will not send any orders.
That remains the case, says Glaze. "It's not because we are not actively lashing out at Opportunity that no one is giving up," she said. "We will stay tuned for a long time to see if it is possible for the solar panels to evaporate and recharge the batteries."
The health of these batteries is a challenge for these efforts. Glaze noted that while the dust storm moderated temperatures, the return of clear skies resulted in sharp drops in temperature every night. "The batteries may be getting too cold, and maybe it's too much for the little rover to do," she said.
For the moment, listening efforts continue, with mobile controllers following a tradition similar to NASA's previous manned spaceflight missions by playing a "waking song" every day. After playing a song from the classic rock band The Who one night, his Twitter account replied, "Wake up, Mars! The people are here. "
Wake up, Mars! The who are here. https://t.co/mxhlrw0mWL
– Who (@TheWho) October 22, 2018
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