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The HiRISE camera aboard the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft took this photo on September 20, 2018. NASA's rover Opportunity Mars, silent since the dust storm that darkened its surroundings in mid-June, appears at center of the white square.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Univ. of Arizona
The dust has dissipated enough for NASA's Mars Opportunity rover to be spotted from space.
On Thursday, September 20th, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) of the agency took a photo of the stationary Silent Opportunity in Perseverance Valley, on the edge of Endeavor crater 14 miles wide (22 kilometers).
"This image was produced about 166 miles (267 km) above the Martian surface," NASA officials wrote in a description of the image, published today (September 25). "The white box marks an area 154 feet wide (47 meters wide) centered on the mobile." [Mars Dust Storm 2018: What It Means for Opportunity Rover]
Although Opportunity has been seen, it's still not heard – not since June 10, anyway. After that date, a dust storm darkened the sky so dramatically over the solar powered mobile that it was unable to harvest enough sunlight to recharge its batteries.
The storm became a monster encircling the planet soon after. But it began to disappear at the end of July, and on September 11, the sky cleared enough for the Opportunity team to intensify its efforts to contact the six-wheeled robot. .
The Rover team members now have two weeks for this 45 day "active listening" campaign. If Opportunity does not respond at the end of the 45-day window, the robot's managers are re-evaluating their options and plans for the future, NASA officials said. However, the mission leaders said that they would continue to passively listen to Opportunity at least until the end of January.
Opportunity has explored the Martian surface for over 14 years. The rover the size of a golf cart landed on the Red Planet in January 2004, three weeks after his twin, Spirit, landed on another slice of Martian terrain.
The primary mission of the two rovers was to last only 90 Earth days. But both have survived their guarantees; The opportunity was at the rendezvous in early June and Spirit was not declared dead until 2011. And the scientific contributions of the duo are impressive; For example, Spirit and Opportunity found ample evidence that liquid water was flowing over the Martian surface in the past.
MRO captured the newly published image with the help of its high-resolution imaging scientific experiment, or HiRISE. This camera is so strong that it can capture features as small as a coffee table on the Martian surface, said NASA officials.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @ michaeldwall and Google+. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
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