The dust storm on Mars is continuing as a Planet-encircling Dust Event (PEDE).

The storm has sustained high atmospheric opacity conditions over the Opportunity site for several weeks. The last contact with the rover was on Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018).

Since then, it is likely that Opportunity has experienced a low-power fault, putting herself to sleep only to wake when the skies eventually clear.

If the atmospheric opacity or the solar array dust factor has gotten even worse since the last contact, Opportunity could also experience a mission clock fault.

The science team is listening every day for the rover either during the expected fault communication windows or listening over a broader range of times using the Deep Space Network Radio Science Receiver on both left- and right-hand circular polarizations.

For the near term, the science team will continue to send a command, three times a week, to elicit a beep if the rover happens to be awake.

The team does not expect to hear anything from Opportunity until there has been a significant reduction in the atmospheric opacity over the rover site.

Total odometry is 28.06 miles (45.16 kilometers).

Related Links
Opportunity Archive
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

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Opportunity's Science Team Remains Vigilant
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 19, 2018
The dust storm on Mars is continuing as a Planet-encircling Dust Event (PEDE) with no indication of receding at this time. The storm has sustained high atmospheric opacity conditions over the Opportunity site for several weeks without any change. There is no indication at this time of the storm abating or clearing. Since the last contact with the rover on Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018), it is likely that Opportunity has experienced a low-power fault, putting herself to sleep only to wake when the ... read more