Tech Shout!

A few days ago, we had reported that the Mars rovers were facing trouble on the red planet because of severe dust storms. It seems that National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) rovers, Opportunity and Spirit are still facing that same problem and it could be their biggest challenge yet, perhaps their last.

The dust storms have been affecting the two NASA rovers from a long time; it’s nearly a month when it hit them. However, Spirit has been less affected then its partner, Opportunity. The dust in the Martian atmosphere over Opportunity has blocked 99 percent of direct sunlight to the rover, leaving only the limited scattered sky light to power it.

Authorities at NASA fear that if the sunlight is further reduces for a comprehensive period, then the rovers will not be able to produce enough power to keep themselves warm and function at all, even in a near-dormant state. Opportunity and Spirit make use of electric heaters to keep some of their fundamental core electronics from becoming too cold. Alan Stern is the associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. He says, “We are rooting for our rovers to survive these storms, but they were never designed for conditions this intense.”

Opportunity’s solar panels had been producing about 700 watt hours of electricity per day prior to the dust storms, which began blocking sunlight last month. With that amount of electricity, one can light a 100-watt bulb for seven hours. After the dust storms began, the panels’ daily output was reduced to less than 400 watt hours. On July 17, the output from Opportunity’s solar panels dropped to 148 watt hours, the lowest point for either rover. And a day later, it further reduced to 128 watt hours.

But the NASA engineers are taking hands-on measures to make sure that the rovers, especially Opportunity. In fact, the two rovers are showing tough survival characteristics. Spirit is in a location where the storm is currently less severe, and has been programmed to save battery power by limiting its activities. John Callas is project manager for the twin rovers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He explains, “We are taking more aggressive action with both rovers than we needed before. The only thing left to cut were some of the communication sessions.”

But one has to keep in mind that Opportunity has spent more than 1240 Martian days and now NASA has stopped all its driving and all science observations activities. It had used more energy than its solar panels could make on that day, drawing down its battery. What’s more, for the first time, either of the rovers has been told to leave out communications for a day or more in order to save energy.

What remains to be seen is whether Opportunity and Spirit will be able to stand the storms, which NASA authorities fear would go on for several days. There is a chance that one or both rovers could be spoilt permanently or even disabled. However, scientists at NASA will calculate the capability of each rover after the storm clears.