The Storm, Dust storm of 2007 Options

[OWW]

Oh no...This is getting bad:

The new and potentially bleak outlook is a stark shift from the prognosis earlier this week.

The dusty squall has reduced direct sunlight to Mars' surface by nearly 99 percent, an unprecedented threat for the solar-powered robotic explorers. If the storm keeps up and thickens with even more dust, officials fear the rovers' batteries may empty and silence the robotic explorers forever.

Opportunity's energy-gathering ability has been slashed to a dangerous 280 watt-hours-enough power to light only three 90-watt light bulbs.

"The worst-case scenario is that enough dust in the sky decreases solar energy to the point that we have to shut down too many things to save power," Lemmon said. "The rovers keep their battery alive by keeping their electronics alive."

"The reality of the situation is that we're limited as to what we can do from the ground by cutting power use," Callas said. "If it continues to worsen and stay that way, it's a survivability issue for Opportunity. If Mars wants to kill the rovers, it can."

http://www.space.com/news/070705_dusty_rovers.html

[CosmicRocker]

The early trend is in the hoped-for direction, but Dr. Lemmon's page still has no new tau values as I go to sleep tonight.

New, sol 1249: The recent dust storm activity has been intense for both rovers. Opportunity experience optical depths of (starting sol 1215) 1.3, 1.5, 1.7, 2.2, 2.6, 3.0, 3.3, 2.7, 3.1, 4.0, 4.1, 3.7, 3.0 (to sol 1227-sol 1228 data aren't due until 1229 PM due to energy conservation measures from weekend plan), rising from a background of 1.0. Spirit's opacity remained near 0.9 until starting on 1239 it went to 1.0, 1.0, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 2.4, 2.3, 2.1, 2.1, 2.4, 2.3 (to sol 1249). New, sol 1244: On sols 1239 and 1244, movies caught some dust devil activity. Sol 1240's movie did not see any activity. Recent sols have seen minor dust cleaning and deposition, but I'm not aware of major changes. The sol 1244 movie shows a much more indistinct horizon. The winds at Meridiani, especially, have probably been quite intense at times.

We don't have any imagery from sol 1229.

CODE

5. What EDRs are missing?

Missing EDRs by sequence number and image type:  (This compares the SSF requests
to actual EDR PDS image files.  The missing ones may not have made it off the rover
yet, may not have been processed by MIPL yet, or may not have been taken as requested.)

Sol   Seq.Ver  ETH ESF EDN EFF ERP Tot  Description
----- -------- --- --- --- --- --- ---- -----------
01229 p2685.15 2   2   0   0   2   6    pancam_tau
01229 p2687.15 4   4   0   0   4   12   pancam_wide_range_tau
01229 Total    6   6   0   0   6   18

It does not appear that sol 1230 will be very active.

CODE

4. What EDRs did we request?

Expected EDRs by sequence number and image type:

Sol   Seq.Ver  ETH ESF EDN EFF ERP Tot  Description
----- -------- --- --- --- --- --- ---- -----------
01230 p0099.01 2   0   0   2   0   4    navcam_stereo_1_bpp_no_actuation
01230 p1550.01 2   0   1   0   0   3    navcam_tau
01230 p1550.01 0   0   0   0   0   0    navcam_sun_pri_57
01230 p2685.15 2   2   0   0   2   6    pancam_tau
01230 p2687.15 4   4   0   0   4   12   pancam_wide_range_tau
01230 Total    10  6   1   2   6   25

Sol 1231 is not a high energy consumption day, either.

CODE

4. What EDRs did we request?

Expected EDRs by sequence number and image type:

Sol   Seq.Ver  ETH ESF EDN EFF ERP Tot  Description
----- -------- --- --- --- --- --- ---- -----------
01231 p1550.01 2   0   1   0   0   3    navcam_tau
01231 p1963.06 2   0   0   2   0   4    navcam_tracks_loco_pri57
01231 Total    4   0   1   2   0   7

I am still optimistic that it is getting better for our rovers.