NASA lost contact with the Mars explorer car $ 400 million

Opportunity explore vehicles lost more than two months in a dust storm as large as the North American and Russian areas combined.

Still not signaled after disappearing on June 10, Fox News reported. The team of scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is monitoring the vehicle and hopes it will wake up because the storm begins to melt.

Opportunity vehicle position (green dot) in dust storm on June 6.(Photo: NASA).

Opportunity, an $ 400 million expedition vehicle, left Earth on July 7, 2003. It achieved many important achievements in the journey of about 15 years on Mars such as detecting signs of water, exploring craters and being the first artificial means of completing a 42km marathon on another planet.

Opportunity's expedition is not always smooth. In 2005, the car crashed with a front wheel and stuck in the sand for about 5 weeks. When moving, it stabs another sand dune. In 2007, a dust storm swept through, causing the car's energy to drop to dangerous levels. About a month later, it worked again and began exploring Victoria's crater.

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

Opportunity reaps many achievements in the journey to explore Mars.(Photo: NASA).

The storm blocks a large amount of sunlight and almost turns into night with Opportunity, then near the center of the storm, inside the Perseverance valley. The car receives energy based on solar panels. If there is a lack of sunlight, it will not work properly.

The team plans to try to contact Opportunity three times a week in the hope that the vehicle will be out of sleep. However, they argue that it will not wake up until the light in the upper area is less blocked.

Opportunity silence is worrying, according to Michael Staab, an engineer at JPL."This is the first time Opportunity stopped contacting us and did not continue to respond when we expected," Staab said.