Oh, red rover red rover.....the Nasa rover on the Red Planet Mars is being battered by severe dust storms and its mission is in a sort of shut down state. The latest photos from Opportunity show a darkening sky and the Sun disappearing from it because of the extreme amount of dust over Perseverance Valley. Nothing to do but "sleep" when you're powered by solar panels. NASA tells us the rover has enough juice to wake back up from time to time, so that it can check its power reserves. When the sky clears the batteries will charge again, but it might take several days, and they don't know when that might actually happen. So it’s a fitful sleep for the rover… for who knows how long for the rover and the scientists charged with keeping tabs.
Photo: NASA