14 DAY TRIAL // A gigantic storm, covering a large portion of the Martian surface has affected the two Mars Exploration Rovers, causing them to lose power. NASA is worried that things could get worse. These storms appear when the planet is closest to the Sun, which increases the overall temperature and produces huge winds that lift the dust into the atmosphere.
Scientists don't know exactly how large the storm will get, only that it's thousands of miles in diameter and that it has grown in size, enough to become a threat to the two missions on the surface, Mars Spirit and Opportunity.
The situation got worse this week, when changes in the storm made it the most severe to hit the rovers since they began exploring Mars, contrary to general opinions among NASA officials, who thought it would not affect the mission.
This caused a change of plans for the Opportunity, which was set to descend into the 230-foot-deep Victoria Crater, to survey it from the inside and take a closer look at its bedrock cliffs, layers in the rock exposed by ancient impacts thought to hide much information about the planet's history.
The descent was temporarily postponed, because dust deposited by the storm on the solar arrays of the probes partly blocks sunlight, preventing them from converting light into vital electricity to recharge their batteries.
"The storm is affecting both rovers and reducing the power levels on Opportunity," said John Callas, Mars Exploration Rover project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We are keeping an eye on this as we go forward, but our entry into Victoria Crater will be delayed until no sooner than July 13."
The most optimistic forecasts expect the storm to continue for at least another week. "We have some data that show the atmospheric opacity is decreasing, so the storm might have peaked and we may have passed the worst of this," Callas said. "The situation could improve quickly from here, but we will have to wait and see."