NASA loses contact with $400 million Mars rover

The Opportunity rover has yet to transmit a signal after disappearing in a massive dust storm on the red planet on June 10.Fox NewsScientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are monitoring the vehicle and hope it will wake up as the storm begins to clear.

Opportunity, a $400 million rover, left Earth on July 7, 2003. It achieved many important successes during its 15-year journey on Mars, such as detecting signs of water, exploring craters, and becoming the first man-made vehicle to complete a 42-kilometer marathon on another planet.

Opportunity’s expeditions have not always been smooth. In 2005, the rover developed a front wheel failure and got stuck in the sand for about five weeks. When it finally got moving, it crashed into another dune. In 2007, a dust storm caused the rover’s power to drop dangerously low. About a month later, it was back in action and exploring Victoria Crater.

Opportunity has successfully overcome many obstacles, but this time researchers can't be sure what will happen. "It was one of the most severe storms ever observed on the red planet. On June 10, it covered more than 41 million square kilometers², equivalent to the area of ​​North America and Russia combined," NASA said.

The storm blocked out a large amount of sunlight and nearly turned day into night for Opportunity, which was near the center of the storm inside Perseverance Valley. The rover relies on solar panels to power itself. Without sunlight, it would not be able to function properly.

The team plans to try to contact Opportunity three times a week in hopes of waking the rover from its dormant state, but they believe it won’t wake up until the light above becomes less blocked.

Opportunity’s silence is worrying, according to Michael Staab, an engineer at JPL. “This is the first time Opportunity has stopped communicating with us and has not responded when we expected it to,” Staab said.