Tag Archives: MER

Opportunity: Science team continues to listen as storm diminishes

NASA Mars Exploration Rover Status Report, August 14, 2018: The planet-encircling dust storm on Mars continues to decay, although in fits and starts. Atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site was estimated down near 2.1, but then popped up to … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Opportunity recovery efforts: Six things

NASA’s Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover. Now that scientists think the global dust storm is “decaying” — meaning more dust is falling out of … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Opportunity: Still no change in status

NASA Mars Exploration Rover Status Report, August 7, 2018: There is no news since the last status update. As reported last week, the planet-encircling dust storm on Mars is showing indications of peaking and perhaps decaying. Dust lifting sites have … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Opportunity: Dust storm may have peaked

NASA Mars Exploration Rover Status Report, August 2, 2018: The planet-encircling dust storm on Mars is showing indications of peaking and perhaps decaying. Dust lifting sites have decreased in extent and some surface features are starting to become visible. The storm … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Opportunity report, Sol 5162, by A.J.S. Rayl, The Planetary Society

August 1, 2018: Dust Storm Wanes, Opportunity Sleeps, Team Prepares Recovery Strategy: Opportunity may be seeing the light again, a little sunlight that is. As the veteran Mars Exploration Rover (MER) slept in Endeavour Crater’s Perseverance Valley under the thick … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Opportunity: Deep sleep continues beneath raging dust storm

[Editor note: Entry bumped because of update] NASA Mars Exploration Rover Status Report, updated at 2:25 p.m. PDT on July 26, 2018: It’s the beginning of the end for the planet-encircling dust storm on Mars. But it could still be … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Mars ‘storm chasers’ seek dusty secrets

Storm chasing takes luck and patience on Earth — and even more so on Mars. For scientists watching the Red Planet from data gathered by NASA’s orbiters, the past month has been a windfall. “Global” dust storms, where a runaway … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Mars Express: As the dust storm rolled in

The high resolution stereo camera on board ESA’s Mars Express captured this impressive upwelling front of dust clouds – visible in the right half of the frame – near the north polar ice cap of Mars in April this year. … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Opportunity field report, July 5, 2018

Sol 5135, July 5, 2018: Rover Field Report by Larry Crumpler, MER Science Team & New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science: Opportunity is hunkered down in the floor of Perseverance Valley here on the inner wall of Endeavour … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Opportunity report, Sol 5132, by A.J.S. Rayl, The Planetary Society

July 4, 2018: Opportunity Sleeps as Storm Chasers Study Planet-Encircling Dust Cloud: As a monster dust storm grew to encircle the Red Planet in June, Opportunity spent most of the month in the dark, presumably sleeping in a hibernation mode … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off