The March Opportunity rover days are numbered – but not everyone agrees

If NASA's oldest planetary rover does not pick up the phone soon, its mission on Mars could finally be over.

Opportunity is the workaholic of the space agency, traveling the Red Planet since 2004 for a mission that was to last only 90 Martian days. (A Martian day, or ground, lasts about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.)

But after an intense dust storm on the planet, communication between Opportunity and Earth was interrupted on June 10.

Now, NASA gave the energetic rover a little over a month to send a signal back home, saying that he was still looking forward to going there.

But not everyone agrees with the NASA schedule.

Unravel the secrets of Mars

Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, landed on different parts of the planet more than 14 years ago. Since then, their discoveries have paved the way for a better understanding of the history of Mars – a planet that humans have strived to reach.

Using the rovers' discoveries, scientists realized that the dusty, seemingly barren planet was once a wet world, harboring an ocean that covered most of its northern hemisphere.

A little serendipity also made the missions of the rovers exciting.

In 2007, a lame spirit – one of its wheels damaged and refusing to turn – left a deep trace in the Martian soil, revealing several bright spots rich in silica. The discovery hinted at past conditions that would have been favorable for life, because here on Earth, silica is around hot and submarine vents, often swarmed with bacteria.

Spirit captured this image on May 21, 2007, showing the Martian soil disturbed by the rover's front right wheel. The trench exposed an almost pure silica stain that could have come from an environment of hot springs or an environment called fumarole, in which volcanic acid vapor emerges through cracks. In both cases, its formation involved water and, on Earth, both types of environments have a microbial life. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell)

Spirit's mission officially ended in 2011, but Opportunity continued to roll.

Now, this recent dust storm may be Oppy's biggest challenge: it is believed that the intense dust covered its solar panels, depriving the rover of sunlight must work.

But the lack of power is not the only problem. Scientists are also worried about whether Oppy was able to keep warm on a planet where temperatures can reach -60 ° C or lower, which could irredeemably damage the indefatigable rover.

#SaveOppy

Since the dust storm, NASA has continued to send signals to Opportunity, while waiting for an answer. Until now, he has been met with silence.

The agency then faced a question: how long is it too long to keep calling, waiting for Opportunity to get up?

At the end of last month, NASA developed a plan.

The Martian atmosphere being more opaque than normal – a measurement called tau – scientists have decided to wait until the dust has sufficiently dissipated to allow sunlight to reliably reach the vehicle. Then, the team began a period of 45 days of active listening, sending orders. After this period, they will go into "passive listening" mode, where the signals will stop and the frequencies of the mobile will simply be monitored to see if Opportunity is calling them instead.

The countdown began on September 11th.

The decision provoked an uproar among some of the public and those who worked on mobile missions.

The arguments for extending the time after 45 days are largely double:

• Some team members think the best time for a "clean-up event" – where the winds on Mars can blow the dust off the solar panels of the rover – will come after the 45-day period. If no one is actively listening, an Opportunity home call may be missed.
• When Spirit lost communication with the Earth in 2010, he was given much more time – 10 months – to answer calls from Earth.

But Steve Squyres, principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover mission, said the Spirit situation was a totally different scenario – and that clean-up events were not guaranteed.

"In the case of Spirit, we made a mistake," he said. "Without correcting this problem, the vehicle would wake up and then – bang – go back to sleep without sending anything to us, so the only chance we got from Spirit was active listening."

It's a cute little creature, adorable, fearless and devoted. It is a machine, but it has human qualities. He explores, he discovers and he shares with us.– John Callas, Mission Manager Opportunity

Mission Director Opportunity, John Callas, denied that the recommendations of the team members were ignored.

"I know some people say their ideas have not been taken into account," he said. "They were considered and they were rejected, and there are good technical reasons why they were not accepted, unfortunately they do not seem to accept that."

Some members of the space community have turned to social media, including Twitter, to express their hope that Opportunity will wake up or benefit from a longer delay. Hashtags such as #SaveOppy and #WakeUpOppy are circulating, and nearly 8,000 digital postcards have been sent to Opportunity.

A very popular rover

Much of this comes from an emotional attachment to a rover that has been a big part of some people's lives, said Callas, including those who have spent their entire careers working on Spirit and Opportunity.

"People are very attached to this rover – I mean, they've anthropomorphized it," Callas said. "It's a cute little creature, adorable, intrepid, and devoted." It's a machine, but it does have human qualities: it explores, it discovers and shares that with us. "

This image of June 17 illustrates the dust storm at the scale of the planet that envelops Mars. (Submitted by Damian Peach)

And despite the fact that Opportunity has experienced 5,119 soils beyond the "guarantee" so far, some believe that the rover has even more to do.

"My biggest fear is to leave a perfectly functional vehicle on the surface of Mars, which is just sitting there waiting for orders to be sent to it, actively transmitting – and we just do not listen," said Mike Seibert. Chief Space Systems Engineer and Driver for Spirit.

"It would be the worst way to end this mission."

NASA gave hope to Opportunity supporters on Sept. 11, when the agency updated its initial statement as the countdown began: "[After the 45 days]The team will report to NASA headquarters to determine whether to pursue the strategy or adjust it. "

And those working on the mission hope that the rover will continue to surpass expectations.

"It's the hardest thing the rover has ever gone through – that's for sure," said Squyres. "But you could have lost a lot of money over the years by betting against Opportunity."