Starship Asterisk*

[quote=Avalon post_id=289942 time=1550435590]
What is the most likely explanation; Opportunity can no longer operate due to exhaustion of power because dust has covered solar cells, the entire rover is buried in sand, sand clogged moving parts, all of these?
[/quote]

The problem appears to be entirely caused by inadequate power.

What is the most likely explanation; Opportunity can no longer operate due to exhaustion of power because dust has covered solar cells, the entire rover is buried in sand, sand clogged moving parts, all of these?

[quote=neufer post_id=289936 time=1550431133 user_id=124483]
[quote=RJN post_id=289935 time=1550429875 user_id=5]
[quote="Chris Peterson" post_id=289929 time=1550413472 user_id=117706]

[/quote]

Thanks. Fixed it. Also fixed a typo in the last sentence on the NASA APOD site. - RJN[/quote]
Well...we don't [b][u]really know[/u][/b] that Opportunity has actually stopped exploring Mars...just that it has stopped talking to us.

Opportunity could have been instructed (like HAL) to go rogue (if necessary) to continue its important mission.
[/quote]

We could see evidence of [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPlx62IK9kg] dust devils[/url] in the area. :ssmile:

The "little rover that could"...is now "the little rover that DID"....

Have a nice rest Opportunity....someday you will be in the "Mars Museum"...

:---[===] *

[quote=RJN post_id=289935 time=1550429875 user_id=5]
[quote="Chris Peterson" post_id=289929 time=1550413472 user_id=117706]
[quote="APOD Robot" post_id=289921 time=1550379962 user_id=128559]

What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160815.html]human[/url]? Then you might be the [url=https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/overview/]Opportunity rover[/url] [s]currently[/s] [b][u]formerly[/u][/b] exploring Mars.[/quote]
[/quote]

Thanks. Fixed it. Also fixed a typo in the last sentence on the NASA APOD site. - RJN[/quote]
Well...we don't [b][u]really know[/u][/b] that Opportunity has actually stopped exploring Mars...just that it has stopped talking to us.

Opportunity could have been instructed (like HAL) to go rogue (if necessary) to continue its important mission.

[quote="Chris Peterson" post_id=289929 time=1550413472 user_id=117706]
[quote="APOD Robot" post_id=289921 time=1550379962 user_id=128559]
What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160815.html]human[/url]? Then you might be the [url=https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/overview/]Opportunity rover[/url] [s]currently[/s] [b][u]formerly[/u][/b] exploring Mars.[/quote]
[/quote]

Thanks. Fixed it. Also fixed a typo in the last sentence on the NASA APOD site.

- RJN

[quote=neufer post_id=289933 time=1550425814 user_id=124483]
[quote="Fred the Cat" post_id=289932 time=1550423014 user_id=143303]

Unlike on the moon, the tracks of our rovers [s]will soon be[/s] have already been covered in dust.[/quote]
[/quote]

:bang: So much for the "ground-breaking mission". :wink:

[quote="Fred the Cat" post_id=289932 time=1550423014 user_id=143303]

Unlike on the moon, the tracks of our rovers [s]will soon be[/s] have already been covered in dust.[/quote]

Unlike on the moon, the tracks of our rovers will soon be covered in dust. How long that might take is [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqfnMzDhi38] fictionalized[/url] but study of Martian [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_soil] regolith[/url] formation is already [url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1a25/e0a9eaee4dde5d5ecb0d3f82055c000ce201.pdf] deeply underway[/url] thanks to years on the surface.

Perhaps Opportunity’s shadow will remain long enough to be photographed side-by-side with a human’s someday in an APOD in the future. :?:

Surely, Chris, Oppo IS "currently exploring Mars", just in a different direction to the normal four dimensions?

John

[quote="APOD Robot" post_id=289921 time=1550379962 user_id=128559]
What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160815.html]human[/url]? Then you might be the [url=https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/overview/]Opportunity rover[/url] [s]currently[/s] [b][u]formerly[/u][/b] exploring Mars.[/quote]

Kinda reminds me of Disney movie 'Black Hole' ending! :D

Strange pic! Looks as if Oppo is on ice, not a dust-dry Marscape. Why is the ground so reflective?
John

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190217.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_190217.jpg[/img] [size=150]Shadow of a Martian Robot[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160815.html]human[/url]? Then you might be the [url=https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/overview/]Opportunity rover[/url] currently exploring Mars. Opportunity explored the [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/]red planet[/url] from 2004 to 2018, finding [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040303.html]evidence of ancient water[/url], and sending breathtaking images across the inner [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_system]Solar System[/url]. [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/images.cfm?id=738]Pictured here[/url] in 2004, [url=https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8414/six-things-to-know-about-nasas-opportunity-rover/]Opportunity[/url] looks opposite the Sun into [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040510.html]Endurance Crater[/url] and sees its own [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990830.html]shadow[/url]. Two wheels are visible on the lower left and right, while the floor and walls of the unusual crater are [url=http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06739]visible[/url] in the background. Caught in a dust storm [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190215.html]in 2018[/url], last week NASA stopped try contact [url=https://youtu.be/1Ll-VHYxWXU]Opportunity[/url] and declare the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun]ground-breaking mission[/url], originally planned for only 92 days, [url=https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8413/nasas-opportunity-rover-mission-on-mars-comes-to-end/]complete[/url].


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