NASA Seeking to Regain Contact with Opportunity Rover on Mars

On June 10th of this year, NASA lost contact with its Martian rover Opportunity, a vehicle which has been traversing the Red Planet’s surface since early 2004. The cause of the disruption was a dust storm.

Now, after two and a half months of waiting, the storm is dissipating. This means that, as the dust clears, the sun can once again reach the solar panels on the Opportunity. It has a means of being powered up again. However, another rover on Mars, Curiosity, had no troubles with the storm because it runs on nuclear energy.

Even in the midst of this newfound hope for re-contact, there remain some concerns regarding the Opportunity‘s integrity and capabilities. Prior to the dust storm, NASA was aware that the old rover’s front steering was shot. Its flash memory is also damaged.

Opportunity initially had a twin on Mars as well: Spirit. But Spiritbecame stuck in a patch of soft Martian soil in 2009. Meanwhile, Opportunity has endeared. It’s a marvel in its own respect. The $400 million piece of equipment was only expected to stand up to the Martian elements for about 90 days. And here it is over a decade later, a valuable piece of scientific equipment.

It’s still uncertain whether the flight controllers will be able to reestablish contact with the Opportunity. No one knows what could have been damaged during the recent storm.

If they are able to get in touch with the rover, it could be quite weak, perhaps on its last legs. If Opportunity doesn’t respond in the next few months, NASA plans to decrease the time it spends trying to reach out to the Opportunity.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally featured on Of Intellect and Interest’s home site here.