Survival Solar Powered
Survival Solar Powered
What do the Mars rovers do as power drops due to the current dust storm?
It’s not looking good for the Opportunity Rover. The dust storm on Mars has reduced Solar Panel output from 700 watthr to 128 watthr. What does it do as power continues to drop? Does it go into survival mode with no communications until the solar energy levels go back up and then phone home?
AR is incorrect...the rovers have to use some electricity just to stay alive. The primary issue is keeping the electronics cool enough, since the insulated instrument box heats up. You can't shut the power off without killing the rover...they'd never be able to turn the power back on again.
Here's a quote from a NASA news release:
"To minimize further the amount of energy Opportunity is using, mission controllers sent commands on Wednesday, July 18, instructing the rover to refrain from communicating with Earth on Thursday and Friday. This is the first time either of the rovers has been told to skip communications for a day or more in order to conserve energy. Engineers calculate that skipping communications sessions should lower daily energy use to less than 130 watt hours"
And another from Steve Squyres:
"This is, I think, one of the most significant challenges we've faced over this entire mission," Squyres told SPACE.com today. "The nature of the risk is well understood, but the magnitude of the risk is not. We simply don't know what's going to happen next."
"Whatever we do, though, the problem is not going to get much better rapidly," he said. "I think that we have a good chance. If Mars really wants to kill these vehicles it can, but we have a lot of things working in our favor."
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