Posted on 07/21/2007 10:15:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Dust is starving the rovers of power by blocking out the sunlight needed to charge their batteries... A series of dust storms have dogged the rovers for a month, and could continue for several more days, if not weeks. If the sunlight is further reduced over an extended period, the rovers will not be able to generate enough power to operate or keep themselves warm. In an effort to protect the rovers from power loss that has the potential to leave one or both permanently disabled, the US space agency has been scaling back their functions to the bare minimum, leaving them in near-dormant states. "We're rooting for our rovers to survive these storms, but they were never designed for conditions this intense," said Nasa's Alan Stern. The dust storms have been worst at Opportunity's locale on Mars' Meridiani plains. Dust in the atmosphere over Meridiani has blocked 99% of direct sunlight to Opportunity, leaving only diffuse light to power it... On 17 July, the output from Opportunity's solar panels dropped to 148 watt hours, the lowest point ever for either rover. Then, on Wednesday, Opportunity's solar-panel output dropped even lower, to 128 watt hours.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Huge Dust Storm Breaks Out on Mars (thousands of miles across)
Space.com | 6/27/07 | Dave Mosher
Posted on 06/27/2007 6:55:05 PM EDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857347/posts
Wild Weather: Earth vs. Mars
space.com | 07/10/07 | Dave Mosher
Posted on 07/10/2007 10:38:11 PM EDT by KevinDavis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1863967/posts
spaceflightnow.com
TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2007
Anticipated stormy weather in the Cape Canaveral area this afternoon has caused a ripple effect in preparations to launch the Phoenix lander bound for Mars, forcing NASA to postpone the liftoff aboard a Delta 2 rocket by 24 hours.
Originally set for early Friday, the launch has been rescheduled for Saturday morning. Liftoff will be possible during a pair of one-second launch windows at 5:26 and 6:02 a.m. EDT.
The trip to Mars will be nine months.
Thanks!
Both are making enough watts to charge batteries. Ones full the other is nearly so.
Good News as both are going into their 4th year of exploring.
I think we are getting our money’s worth out of those two.
Great update! Thanks.
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