Dust Storm Options

[sranderson]

Spaceweather (www.spaceweather.com) is reporting a dust storm on Mars visible in amateur telescopes. Hope we don't get too much dust-fall on the solar panels....

[dot.dk]

Indeed the dust storm is over and a fresh new cleaning event was in order

Rover update at JPL/NASA

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/sta...tml#opportunity

Opportunity is healthy. The solar array was apparently cleaned again on sol 638. Average solar array energy is around 720 watt-hours after the cleaning event!

[helvick]

720 watt hours is nice and healthy, the cleaning event seems to have boosted Oppy's energy generating capacity by about 10%. Before this dust storm she was generating somewhere around 670 watt hours and the total insolation has dropped slightly so I had been expecting that she would return to around 650 watt hours when the dust cleared.

[Nirgal]

720 watt hours is nice and healthy, the cleaning event seems to have boosted Oppy's energy generating capacity by about 10%. Before this dust storm she was generating somewhere around 670 watt hours and the total insolation has dropped slightly so I had been expecting that she would return to around 650 watt hours when the dust cleared.

helvick,

what would be your best estimate of Oppy's remaining life time, if it were limited by solar power alone ... a) without further cleaning events or assuming one or two additioanl 10% cleaning events during the remaining life time ?
From your latest chart it would seem that we could expect solar power to last well into February, right ?

Nirgal
... who still can't stop dreaming the Victoria dream