NASA has revealed fresh hope that its Opportunity rover could come back to life on the surface of Mars.
Earlier this week the space agency issued an update saying it could be all over for the rover.
Now, it says there is a glimmer of hope – in the shape of high winds.
Nasa’s Opportunity rover has finally been lost on Mars four months after a raging dust storm encircled the red planet, the space agency has said
‘After a review of the progress of the listening campaign, NASA will continue its current strategy for attempting to make contact with the Opportunity rover for the foreseeable future,’ the space agency said.
‘Winds could increase in the next few months at Opportunity’s location on Mars, resulting in dust being blown off the rover’s solar panels.’
NASA said it will keep trying to contact the rover until at least January 2019.
The rover, which is located on the rim of Mars’ Endeavour Crater, has been out of contact for four months after a raging dust storm encircled the red planet.
Skies eventually cleared by mid-September, when America’s space agency began a six-week listening programme to try and receive data from their device.
Dr Lori Glaze, acting director of Nasa’s planetary science division, suggested that attempts to recover the rover by sending daily signals would be coming to an end.
‘The batteries may be getting too cold and that may be too much for ‘the little rover that could’,’ Dr Glaze told the Times.
Last week Dr Glaze said that efforts to revive the rover would only continue for ‘another week or two’.
‘It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions the last couple of days’, said Mike Staab, a systems engineer and flight director at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
‘We’re all just trying to do what we believe is right’, he said.
Opportunity fell silent back in June, with no way to power its solar battery as dust continued to block out the sun. The animation shows how the rover (centre) was directly in the path of the raging storm
Nasa said it ‘not set any deadlines’ for giving up contact.
In desperate attempts to revive it engineers have played it songs such as played it songs such as Wham!’s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.
Last month, the space agency revealed it had spotted the silent rover on the surface of Mars, though it still hasn’t heard from it.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took a picture in late September from 166 miles (267 kilometers) up, with Opportunity appearing as a tiny dot.
Engineers involved with the mission were at first hopeful that the robotic Mars explorer would wake back up once the storm abated – but, after months of silence, they recently admitted morale is ‘shaky.’
Last month, the space agency revealed it had spotted the silent rover on the surface of Mars, though it still hasn’t heard from it
Even if it does come back on, the team is anticipating ‘complexity’ with the rover’s mission clock.
Without enough energy to sustain its mission clock, which is thought to be the only instrument still working, the rover won’t know what time it is.
So far, Opportunity has exceeded its expected lifespan many times over.
Both Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, were designed to last only 90 days on the Martian surface, with the expectation that the planet’s extreme winters and dust storms could cut their mission short.
Nasa launched the Opportunity rover as part of its Mars Exploration Rover program in 2004.
It landed on Mars’ Meridiani Planum plain near its equator on January 25, 2004.
Opportunity’s panoramic camera (Pancam) took the component images for this view from a position outside Endeavor Crater during the span of June 7 to June 19, 2017. It is one of the last images the rover sent
The rover has lasted nearly 15 years: It last communicated on June 10 before being forced into hibernation by the growing dust storm.
In its lifetime, Opportunity has explored two craters on the red planet, Victoria and Endeavour, as well as found several signs of water.
Nasa has made several updates to the spacecraft since it landed on Mars, such as its flash memory.