Postcards to the edge: last ditch attempt to wake up Opportunity Mars rover

Opportunity went silent on June 10 following a massive dust storm on Mars.

This artist rendering released by NASA shows Opportunity on the surface of Mars.

With no news from the Opportunity rover for over 2 months, scientists have now resorted to asking her fans to send postcards to help wake up the rover. Opportunity went silent on June 10 following a massive dust storm on Mars and no signal has been heard despite repeated attempts to connect with it. A release from NASA on August 31 said that the storm is starting to lose intensity and the skies are clearing up over Perseverance Valley — Opportunity's resting spot.

"If we do not hear back after 45 days, the team will be forced to conclude that the Sun-blocking dust and the Martian cold have conspired to cause some type of fault from which the rover will more than likely not recover," said John Callas, Opportunity project manager at JPL in the release. "At that point our active phase of reaching out to Opportunity will be at an end. However, in the unlikely chance that there is a large amount of dust sitting on the solar arrays that is blocking the Sun's energy, we will continue passive listening efforts for several months."

 

Last month, NASA engineers made a playlist of motivational songs and played it in an attempt to wake up the rover. The songs include The Beatles “Here Comes the Sun”, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, "Life on Mars" and "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.

Curiosity, another rover on Mars, tweeted on September 2 asking its followers to help save Opportunity.

 

The postcard can be sent via the website of Mars Exploration Program . You can choose from a variety of pictures of Mars, write your message and post it.