(Image Credit: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter)
Owing to the major differences between ostensibly similar planets of Earth and Mars, the red planet is now experiencing a massive dust storm the size of North America. Right in the midst of this maelstrom is the little Opportunity rover, hunkered down as best as it can against the fury of the bringer of war.
What is truly amazing, however, is that the rover is expected to weather the storm with little difficulty, only experiencing a brief suspension of it’s ongoing mission objectives.
The large concerns in a situation like this, of course, are that the solar panels may become covered with too much dust to properly funciton, or that the sun is obscured for too long causing a sharp decline in temperature of the rover. Neither eventuality is expected to slow down the scrappy piece of tech, and NASA appears to be in good shape to claim yet another of the ongoing victories in their rover program.
Reference: cnet