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Happy 10th Birthday Opportunity!

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  • 24-01-2014 12:11am
    #1
    JupiterKid
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 12,619 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    The Mars rover Opportunity is still going strong, exploring the Martian surface after a full decade of operations.:)

    750px-NASA_Mars_Rover.jpg


    The rover was only designed to last 90 days and has hugely exceeded its design lifetime. Opportunity is still making important discoveries exploring the Meridiani Planum region of the red planet. The rover has traveled an incredible 39 kilometres (24 miles) across the surface of Mars.

    Happy Birthday Opportunity!


    Opportunity-Sol-2678b_Ken-Kremer.jpg


    Sol_B1687_navcam-browse.jpg


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    #2
    _Tombstone_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭_Tombstone_


    So the OPPORTUNITY:o has met it's match and it's called a 32 degree Incline.

    Steep enough looking...

    mars-rover-opportunity-shadow-PIA20328-br2.jpg
    The rover's tilt hit 32 degrees on March 10 while Opportunity was making its closest approach to an intended target near the crest of "Knudsen Ridge."

    Engineers anticipated that Opportunity's six aluminum wheels would slip quite a bit during the uphill push, so they commanded many more wheel rotations than would usually be needed to travel the intended distance. Results from the drive were received in the next relayed radio report from the rover: The wheels did turn enough to have carried the rover about 66 feet (20 meters) if there had been no slippage, but slippage was so great the vehicle progressed only about 3.5 inches (9 centimeters). This was the third attempt to reach the target and came up a few inches short.

    The rover team reached a tough decision to skip that target and move on.

    Both the intended target near the top of the ridge and the current target area farther west are on the hillside forming the southern edge of "Marathon Valley," which slices east-west across the raised western rim of Endeavour Crater. Both targets are in areas where mineral-mapping observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have identified clay minerals, which form in the presence of water.

    The March 10 drive surpassed Opportunity's own previous record for the steepest slope ever driven by any Mars rover. That record was accomplished while Opportunity was approaching "Burns Cliff" about nine months after the mission's January 2004 landing on Mars.

    http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1901


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    #3
    Maximus Alexander
    Registered Users Posts: 13,080 ✭✭✭✭Maximus Alexander


    :D


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    #4
    _Tombstone_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭_Tombstone_


    From its perch high on a ridge, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded this image of a Martian dust devil twisting through the valley below. The view looks back at the rover's tracks leading up the north-facing slope of "Knudsen Ridge," which forms part of the southern edge of "Marathon Valley."

    Opportunity took the image using its navigation camera (Navcam) on March 31, 2016, during the 4,332nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars.

    Dust devils were a common sight for Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, in its outpost at Gusev Crater. Dust devils have been an uncommon sight for Opportunity, though.

    PIA20012-16.jpg

    http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6265


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    #5
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,830 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    opportunity_dust_storm.jpg

    Dust storms :(
    As NASA's Opportunity rover nears its 15th birthday, engineers are worried the plucky little robot may not survive a worsening Martian dust storm.

    Fingers crossed.

    This one still gets me
    Spirit - A good rover would keep going.


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    #6
    star gazer
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 1,706 Mod ✭✭✭✭star gazer


    Big test coming up for Opportunity as the dust storm abates.
    https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1035316528072278018
    A planet-encircling dust storm on Mars, which was first detected May 30 and halted operations for the Opportunity rover, continues to abate.

    With clearing skies over Opportunity’s resting spot in Mars’ Perseverance Valley, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, believe the nearly 15-year-old, solar-powered rover will soon receive enough sunlight to automatically initiate recovery procedures -- if the rover is able to do so. To prepare, the Opportunity mission team has developed a two-step plan to provide the highest probability of successfully communicating with the rover and bringing it back online.

    “The Sun is breaking through the haze over Perseverance Valley, and soon there will be enough sunlight present that Opportunity should be able to recharge its batteries,” said John Callas, Opportunity project manager at JPL. “When the tau level [a measure of the amount of particulate matter in the Martian sky] dips below 1.5, we will begin a period of actively attempting to communicate with the rover by sending it commands via the antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Assuming that we hear back from Opportunity, we will begin the process of discerning its status and bringing it back online.”
    ...
    Opportunity


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    #7
    star gazer
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 1,706 Mod ✭✭✭✭star gazer


    There's a possiblity of wind blowing off dust from its solar panels in the coming months allowing Opportunity to recharge.

    Opportunity update
    One month since increasing their commanding frequency, engineers have yet to hear from NASA's Opportunity rover.

    NASA hasn't set any deadlines for the mission but will be briefed later this month on the progress and prospects for the recovery campaign being carried out at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

    JPL engineers are employing a combination of listening and commanding methods in case Opportunity is still operational. It's possible that a layer of dust deposited on the rover's solar panels by the recent global dust storm is blocking sunlight that could recharge its batteries. No one can tell just how much dust has been deposited on its panels.

    A windy period on Mars -- known to Opportunity's team as "dust-clearing season" -- occurs in the November-to-January time frame and has helped clean the rover's panels in the past. The team remains hopeful that some dust clearing may result in hearing from the rover in this period.

    Opportunity has exceeded its expected lifespan many times over. Both Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, were designed to last only 90 days on the Martian surface, with the expectation that the planet's extreme winters and dust storms could cut their mission short. The rover has lasted nearly 15 years: It last communicated on June 10 before being forced into hibernation by the growing dust storm.


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