Friday, February 3, 2012

When Oppy sees her shadow, does that mean a longer winter on Mars?

Another one of those very cool "Ooooooh!" photos that us Earthbound Mars explorers can appreciate from our virtual rides along with Oppy on Mars.  Hard to believe that the little rover is still alive and well after EIGHT YEARS now!   My old rover T-shirt that I bought at Kennedy Space Center years ago is already worn out and used as a greasy rag, but at leas one of the rovers is still going.
From the look of the panels, it does look like Oppy could use a direct hit from a dust devil to clear off that coating of dust. But the rover is now in position for the Martian winter, tipped toward the sun for maximum solar power.
Look at the photo below, that little bump on top of the hill shadow is the shadow of the rover, with the sun glory around it.  Very cool!