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Posted by tourdemars to Mars Exploration Rovers at May 27, 2004 04:33 PM
The slow and inevitable build-up of dust on the solar panels of the Mars rover Opportunity is prompting scientists to cut overnight heating to the vehicle in hopes of eking out a few more hours for investigations by day.TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.marsnews.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/569
Maybe they could shake some of this dust off the panels by shaking it off.
Posted by: Harold LaValley at May 27, 2004 05:28 PM
Problem is, Opportunity has had a pretty smooth trip to its destinations. Spirit has traveled a rocky rough path to the 'hills' and has experienced more of a jumbling.
I predict that Opportunity will indeed shake loose some of that dust on the way out of this steep crater if not going down.
Here's a thought...to survive winter on Mars the rovers perform science at different locations so that the angle of the rover's solar panels are inclinde at 90 degrees relative to the Sun.
I'm sure NASA is going to milk every last usuable hour out of those rovers. It is possible that one or both will lose its mobility before losing signal. Then I guess they would become weather moniters =)
Posted by: Zach at May 27, 2004 06:21 PM