DooKey
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The Mars rover Opportunity has survived its 8th winter thanks to the Mars rover team using a tilted strategy for the rover during the winter months. Basically they make sure the rover is always tilted towards the sun and take extra care when in the fall and winter. Further, Opportunity has been on Mars since 2004 and was supposed to only have a mission duration of 90 Martian days. However, thanks to outstanding NASA engineers this rover is still going strong almost 14 years later and providing excellent science along the way. Opportunity is one tough robot.
Besides tilt and daylight length, other factors in Opportunity's power status include how much dust is on the solar array and in the sky. Wind can clean some dust off the array, but can also stir up dust storms that block sunlight and then drop dust onto the rover. Southern-hemisphere autumn and winter tend to have clear skies over Opportunity, but the amount of dust on the solar array going into autumn has varied year-to-year, and this year the array was dustier than in all but one of the preceding autumns.
Besides tilt and daylight length, other factors in Opportunity's power status include how much dust is on the solar array and in the sky. Wind can clean some dust off the array, but can also stir up dust storms that block sunlight and then drop dust onto the rover. Southern-hemisphere autumn and winter tend to have clear skies over Opportunity, but the amount of dust on the solar array going into autumn has varied year-to-year, and this year the array was dustier than in all but one of the preceding autumns.
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