Remember NASA¡¯s Longest-Lived Robot On Mars? It Is Possible It Might Be Dying

Mars, the red planet on which humans have long explored an alternative life is experiencing an intense dust storm since June this year. The storm is so strong that its surface looks hazy when seen from a telescope.

NASA¡¯s prized possession, Opportunity robotic rover is active on Mars since 2004. It is the longest-lived robot on the planet. Though the vehicle was meant to last only three months, it is 15 years old now.

NASA¡¯s Opportunity rover scours the land, constantly exploring and analysing its surroundings. However, it fell asleep on the job on June 10 due to a massive dust storm. The opportunity hasn¡¯t been able to phone back home and it has been two months since the robot went into a state of coma.

Photo: BI/ How Mars looked before (left) and after the dust storm (right)

Infamous for its dust storms, usually these rusty red swathes cover Mars once every few years. However, NASA believes this is "one of the most intense" global dust storm ever recorded, quoted Business Insider.

MER Principal Investigator Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, told The MER Update, ¡°I'm not sure what to say other than this is the worst storm Opportunity has ever seen, and we're doing what we can, crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.¡±

Why Is Opportunity In Danger? Here Are Some Of The Possible Reasons

1)The dust storm has thrown the planet into a perpetual state of darkness. The Martian weather, therefore, has blocked light for the poor opportunity which runs on solar panels. Due to this, it has lost the ability to store and recharge itself with electrical energy.

2) The climate of Mars has aroused curiosity among scientists for decades now. It can be very hot and biting cold at the same time. On Mars, winter temperatures can drop to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit near the equator. Such cold weather can shrink pieces of metal in electronic circuits and break them.

3) Plutonium -238 nuclear buttons help keep Opportunity¡¯s circuit warm but it is not only well-decayed but a short-term solution as well. Therefore, the robot still needs electricity to charge itself, run circuit warm heaters and to contact NASA mission back home.

4) Draining the batteries excessively is also another issue. The longer they are inactive, the more electrical storage capacity they lose. If Opportunity¡¯s solar panels don¡¯t clear itself of the dust then the batteries could dip in voltage.

If the dust storm doesn¡¯t die down then it will become difficult for the robot to recover from a variety of ¡®fault modes¡¯ and Opportunity will join the likes of ¡®Spirit¡¯, an identical sister rover which stopped talking to NASA in March 2010 during a Martian winter.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS)/This series of images, created with imagery processed by the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) crew at Malin Space Science Systems, shows simulated views of the epic dust storm¡¯s path.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

The good news is that the storm has started weakening and is in its decay phase. According to BI, NASA said that opportunity¡¯s batteries were in a relatively good condition before the storm took place so there is not likely to be too much degradation. Dust storms also tend to warm up the environment, so that will help buffer against the circuit-busting cold.

However, it might take a lot of time for the skies to be clear enough so that Opportunity could rejuvenate its batteries. Though the six-wheeled robot is in severe threat, scientists are optimistic about the rover.