Will NASA’s Opportunity rover resurface after months of no contact?
https://mashable.com/article/nasa-opportunity-rover-hibernation/?utm_cid=hp-r-1#teI1Jen_BiqG
On Friday, an article published by Mashable brought news of the new found potential for contact with NASA’s oldest Mars rover, Opportunity. The rover has not been able to be communicated with since June 10 when an extreme dust storm engulfed the planet. The dust from the storm has recently started to settle, potentially allowing the rover to have access to sunlight and be able to recharge its batteries. According to the Mashable article, NASA scientists have hope that they should be able to regain contact with the rover soon, but will stop attempting to ping it within 45 days if there is no response. Opportunity is a buzzing topic on social media. People are concerned about the rover’s status, as it has become a beloved and important piece of history. I think the topic is incredibly important for people to start talking about, as the loss of the rover could potentially set NASA back in their interplanetary communications. Though they are continuing research in many different areas and on many different topics, they have relied on the Opportunity rover for years to gather information about Mars. Mashable said people are using hashtags like #SaveOppy to support the regained function of the rover. Information gathered by this rover and others is said to possibly be able to increase the chances of human lives being able to take place on Mars. I think it would be an amazing advancement if something like this could happen in the near or far future, and expanding beyond earth is something that a lot of population scientists have discussed. Overall, keeping up to date on topics like those from NASA on social media is very important to society .