NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has enjoyed major headlines lately with some
new discoveries that bring us one step closer to the detection of ancient life on Mars. But while Curiosity is enjoying this well-earned moment in the spotlight, its fellow rover and older cousin, Opportunity, has fallen silent. Opportunity is smack dab in the middle of a massive dust storm blanketing at least one-quarter of the Red Planet, alone under dark skies as dust blots out the precious sunlight the rover needs for
power.
The storm was not a complete surprise; Mars is now entering a dust-storm season, as planetary scientists have expected. Martian dust storms range from small — less than 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) across — to much rarer huge, planet-spanning storms that can cover one-third to one hundred percent of the surface.
This particular storm was first detected May 30 by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). At the time, it was about 620 miles (1,000km) from Opportunity, but the rover’s team began developing contingency plans in case the storm advanced. It did — by June 6, dust had begun obscuring the sunlight needed for the rover’s solar panels to churn out power, dropping the rover’s capacity to carry out extended tasks. Over the course of two days, Opportunity’s ability to generate energy dropped by half.
That level dropped by half again in a single day. On June 10, the rover transmitted data back to Earth showing the opacity of Mars’ atmosphere (a measure of dust) was currently twice as high as had ever been measured previously on the planet.