NASA's Curiosity rover has been tracking the dust storm that has impaired its older cousin on the other side of the Mars.
The storm, which covered as much area as Russia and North America combined has engulfed the Opportunity rover, incapacitating it and plunging its environs into perpetual darkness. The solar-powered Opportunity has therefore ceased all science operations. The Opportunity Rovers twin, Spirit, ‘froze to death’ after getting stuck in thick Martian sand in 2010.
A recent photo by Curiosity suggests that the storm may be approaching its location, the 96-mile-wide Gale Crater. But Curiosity is nuclear-powered, so it would be able to function properly within the dust storm, unlike it’s cousin, Opportunity.
However, this is not the first major dust storm weathered by Opportunity, which landed on the Red Planet in January 2004: An even larger storm forced the rover to stand down for two weeks in 2007. But the dust surrounding Opportunity now is much thicker than it was during that previous storm, mission team members have said.
Opportunity beamed a message to its handlers on Sunday (June 10), which is a good sign; it shows the rover still has a decent amount of battery power left. Mission team members have a delicate balancing act ahead if the dust storm persists; they'll need to run Opportunity's heaters enough to keep the rover from freezing, but not so much that they run out its batteries.
Curiosity has been exploring Gale Crater since August 2012. The rover started its Mars mission on the crater floor, but it's currently climbing through the foothills of Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles (5.5 km) into the Martian sky from Gale's centre.