Nasa is preparing to make one last attempt to contact Mars rover Opportunity, before officially declaring it dead.
The Mars rover team lost contact with Opportunity more than eight months ago, when a global dust storm enveloped the red planet for several months, blocking sunlight from the rover’s solar panels.
Scientists have sent more than 1,000 recovery commands to Opportunity, but they are yet to receive a response from the exploratory craft, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“It’s just like a loved one who’s gone missing, and you keep holding out hope that they will show up and that they're healthy,” project manager John Callas said. “But each passing day that diminishes, and at some point you have to say 'enough' and move on with your life.”
Engineers believe the rover’s internal clock “may have become scrambled during the prolonged outage”, disrupting its power cycle and draining its batteries, the ABC says.
Launched in 2003, Opportunity was initially sent to undertake a 90-day mission, however it lasted far beyond expectations, continuing to operate for more than 15 years.
-
NASA is moving away from tracking climate changeThe Explainer Climate missions could be going dark
-
Hurricanes are not exclusive to Earth. They can happen in space.Under the radar These storms may cause navigational problems
-
Answers to how life on Earth began could be stuck on MarsUnder the Radar Donald Trump plans to scrap Nasa's Mars Sample Return mission – stranding test tubes on the Red Planet and ceding potentially valuable information to China
-
The treasure trove of platinum on the moonUnder the radar This kind of bounty could lead to commercial exploitation
-
Possible dwarf planet found at edge of solar systemUnder the radar The celestial body has an unusual orbit
-
Why Elon Musk's satellites are 'dropping like flies'Under The Radar Fierce solar activity destroying Starlink satellites
-
Why is Nasa facing a crisis?Today's Big Question Trump administration proposes 25% cut to national space agency's budget in 'extinction-level event'
-
Full moon calendar 2025: when is the next full moon?In depth When to see the lunar phenomenon every month
