We told you a couple of days ago that a major dust storm has hit Mars. This dust storm is blocking the rays of the sun the only power source for the twin rovers on the planet.
This dust storm has http://www.spacescan.org/images/rover-mars_69.jpgmainly affected Opportunity and NASA has decided to move the rover in the massive Victoria Crater so that it can be prevented from further damage.
However, the storm is now much worse than it previously was. To add to the troubles of NASA, this storm is not allowing the space agency to move their aging rover down the Victoria Crater.
This dust is partly blocking sunlight, which the rovers need to replenish their batteries. NASA has already scaled the operations of Opportunity in an effort to conserve its energy. For now NASA has delayed Opportunity from entering the Victoria Crater and the mission cannot commence before July 13.
NASA hopes that the worst has already passed and the situation should soon improve making things better for both the rovers. NASA has stated that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has shown that the storm is regional and only some parts of the planet are suffering from high dust activity which is blocking the sun’s rays from entering the planet.
The twin rovers are designed to measure the levels atmospheric dust. At this time Opportunity revealed a new record with the air’s “opacity levels” rising from 1.0 to a staggering 3.3. This opacity has further reduced the energy on the rover from 765 watts-hour to 402 watts-hour. Spirit however is in a better location and the rover is not much affected by this storm.
NASA will try to move the rover in the giant Victoria Crater once the things improve and allow NASA to do the same.
Via: MSNBC
