Astronomy / Space Opportunity rover threatened by record Martian dust storm

Jonny Shiloh

Jonny Shiloh
Accordingly to Scott Manley:

The darkest dust storm ever recorded on Mars has cut off power to the Opportunity rover. Scientists have described the conditions as if Day has become night, with only 0.0002% of sunlight reaching the surface, insufficient to keep the Opportunity rover running.
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[video=youtube;X__AKRqlK4s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X__AKRqlK4s[/video]

Fingers crossed for "the little rover that could".
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
To be honest, I don't think Martian dust storms are all that bad. I mean, we usually tend to imagine something like our sandstorm here on Earth, but it's not nearly as dramatic.

Don't forget Mars has 100% less dense atmosphere. 100km/h wind there would feel like a 10km/h breeze here. It can raise dust from the ground because of the low gravity, yes, but it hardly can do any damage with it.

The only real problem it can cause is that it blocks the sun and makes the solar panels dirty. That COULD be a problem, of course, but don't imagine a rover being rocked and swept by the winds.
 

Jonny Shiloh

Jonny Shiloh
Chris Simon said:
To be honest, I don't think Martian dust storms are all that bad. I mean, we usually tend to imagine something like our sandstorm here on Earth, but it's not nearly as dramatic.

Don't forget Mars has 100% less dense atmosphere. 100km/h wind there would feel like a 10km/h breeze here. It can raise dust from the ground because of the low gravity, yes, but it hardly can do any damage with it.

The only real problem it can cause is that it blocks the sun and makes the solar panels dirty. That COULD be a problem, of course, but don't imagine a rover being rocked and swept by the winds.
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Agreed. Scott goes into it in some detail but the problem is, as he says, not storm damage but rather

only 0.0002% of sunlight reaching the surface, insufficient to keep the Opportunity rover running.
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He reckons that equates to something like 2 milliwatts available to the rover - could be a big problem. Whatever, it's gone into self-preservation emergency shutdown and I guess we'll see when, ahem, the dust clears.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Jonny Shiloh said:
Agreed. Scott goes into it in some detail but the problem is, as he says, not storm damage but rather



He reckons that equates to something like 2 milliwatts available to the rover - could be a big problem. Whatever, it's gone into self-preservation emergency shutdown and I guess we'll see when, ahem, the dust clears.
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Hahah, right. That's what I get for not watching the video first. :D
 
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