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| Mars Opportunity Rover |
Well, Well, Well, NASA's Opportunity rover which got trapped as a result of a dust storm, which shrouded Mars has not regained any operational status. In fact, the rover is still in hibernation mode despite attempts made by the rover's team of Engineers to wake it back up. The team is concerned that the rover may remain nonoperational forever, however even if some miracle plays out, it may not regain its full operational mode.
NASA's jet propulsion Laboratory made known to the public in a blog post stating the ups and downs of the situation and likely fate of the rover. NASA says that the rover went into sleep mode as a result of a low-power fault. this condition manifests when the rover's solar panels are unable to recharge its battery to an appreciable level and the rover enters a standby state as it waits for more backup power. The rover is designed to periodically check its battery levels and make contact with our beloved planet Earth. unfortunately that remains to be seen as it remains unresponsive.
"Clock fault" being another downer for the rover's condition occurs when the rover's on-board clock gets overloaded. For a robot, the rover is packed with highly sophisticated components, and one important part is its internal clock (whose role is to inform the rover when it should wake back up and check power levels). The rover ought to begin charging of its batteries through solar panels after its onboard system picks up suitable weather conditions. For the charging process to begin if the clock has been damaged, the rover embodies the capability to do so upon inspection of light levels.
A further salt to injury is the possibility of damage to the rover's batteries owing to prolonged downtime. upon revelation of the situation, the batteries may have had its reserve energy depleted before they could be recharged by solar radiance, this puts a strain on the overall future performance of the batteries.
Opportunity seems to be facing a collateral damage situation, and we can only hope and expect the rover to bounce back to full operational capacity. It had stood firm in the struggle for the study of Mars as a planet and should stand sure in its pace to improve man's harmony with nature.
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