The Storm, Dust storm of 2007 |
The Storm, Dust storm of 2007 |
Jul 5 2007, 05:57 PM
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#101
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Member Group: Members Posts: 710 Joined: 28-September 04 Member No.: 99 |
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 |
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Jul 18 2007, 04:29 AM
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#102
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2228 Joined: 1-December 04 From: Marble Falls, Texas, USA Member No.: 116 |
I'd be lying if I said I am not concerned, but I am not terribly worried at this point, either. Oppy has felt she had enough power to take some images through sol 1236, even though the images have decreased in number. Furthermore, she has transmitted tens of images, including those "dust lifting" movies taken on sols 1233-4 as recently as today (sol 1237), two sols into tau5 conditions.
They have apparently suspended imaging as of sol 1237 and are not planning activities for a while, I am guessing as a precautionary measure. One thing that we all can feel happy about is that both rovers look to be as clean as whistles, and so are able to absorb as many photons as are able to penetrate the gloom. Being a die hard optimist, I was looking for other good news, and this is the best I could come up with. There has been a bit of a correlation between tau, as recently measured by Spirit, and that measured by Opportunity. Just look at Doug's graph. According to Dr. Lemmon's site Spirit has seen a slight decrease from it's recent peak tau, from 3.8 to 3.6. That was tosol. We might not, but then again we just might, see dust levels on this side of the planet do something similar. Let us pray that it doesn't get much worse. -------------------- ...Tom
I'm not a Space Fan, I'm a Space Exploration Enthusiast. |
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