NASA’s Opportunity is recording the Martian days with the lowest solar energy for the seventh time. Through this, we learn more and more about the history of Mars’s environment.
Opportunity Examines Martian Rock in Marathon Valley
The Martian southern hemisphere had its winter solstice on January 2nd, and it brought refreshing air to the veteran rover. NASA reports that the rover has been particularly active because of the solar winds in the past few winters. The agency is expecting Opportunity to continue to be active throughout the year since it will be getting plenty of sunlight on its solar panels.
Opportunity has been on space for 12 years, having landed on January 24, 2004. The rover has been roaming around Mars’s Eagle Crater, and NASA is looking to send the rover to other Martian craters.
The Probe Has Gone Through Seven Martian Winters
Every Martian year lasts about 1.9 Earth years. Much like Earth, Mars also has different seasons like summer and winter. These seasons are twice as big as Earth’s, though. In 12 years of roaming, Opportunity is going through its seventh Martian winter.
Right now, Opportunity is on the Endeavor crater, and it has been there since 2011. It’ll progress to ‘Marathon Valley’ through this winter. NASA has spotted clay mineral that could give them clues about a once wet, non-acidic Mars.
2016 Will Be Sunny and Less Dusty in Mars
The advantage of this specific year is that Opportunity will have plenty of sunlight. The probe will also have a dust-free experience, which will give this mission a great chance of success. The probe’s solar panels will gather 460-watt hours every day, which is 40% more than they did last Martian winter. This made the probe’s mission a lot slower.
Opportunity can make power-intense operations, like driving and rock-grinding. During Opportunity’s first Martian winter, it was generating less than 300-watt hours for over two months. This paused the mission completely. Now that the probe has good access to sun and less dust, Opportunity will have a better time scouring through Marathon Valley. While the world has their eyes on the New horizons probe and Curiosity, Opportunity can get its own bit of the spotlight.
