Good news for Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, a windy day on the Martian surface has cleared a layer of dust off its solar panels.
Opportunity is currently trundling across the undulating dunes of Meridiani Planum on its way to Endeavour crater, a destination it wont reach for another two years. It needs all the energy it can muster. So, like the fortuitous gust of wind that gave Spirit a 3% boost in energy in February, Opportunity has received what may appear to be a small hurricane in comparison. This gust of wind shifted so much dust caked on the rover’s solar panels, the robot has had an energy increase of 40%.
As of Sol 1850 (April 7, 2009), Opportunity’s solar array energy production has increased to 515 watt-hours. Atmospheric opacity (tau) remains elevated at around 0.95. The dust factor has improved to 0.642, meaning that 64.2 percent of sunlight hitting the solar array penetrates the layer of accumulated dust on the array. The rover is in good health with a rested actuator and extra energy. — NASA Opportunity updates
Since Opportunity arrived on Mars five years ago until April 7th, the tenacious rover has travelled 15,114 meters (9.39 miles). For a mission that was only slated to last three months, that’s not a bad distance its clocked up.
Source: NASA
astroengine.com 
Great news Ian – thanks! Just wish Spirit could get a proper clean up too, but they’ll both keep roving no matter what – they’re survivors those two! š
I am really looking forward to the day we can send manned missions to Mars – I hope it will happen in my lifetime…
I am really looking forward to the day we can send manned missions to Mars – I hope it will happen in my lifetime…
I know we have great opportunities for moon-based solar energy programs …..OH wait, never mind. Obama crushed NASA's plans for that.
Dude forget about mars. It'll be an achievement just to survive the mess we created ourselves.
This is the better opportunity that we have at this time. There is
lot of opportunity that we can use through the moon base solar panel where the gusts
of the wind are revolving into lots of dust on the rover of the solar panel.
Through this opportunity the solar array products are been mounting high.
Well it would be nice if the President actually supportedĀ NASAĀ instead of tearing it down and giving China the upper hand.
I’m following Solar Energy idea of spending time on mars like that move red planet, bounce on in andĀ TerraĀ form.
Solar energy is important in the life of the people. There is a lot of save if you are to prevent using electricity and used solar energy instead.Ā