The planet-encircling dust storm on Mars continues to show indications of decay.

Dust-lifting sites have decreased and surface features are starting to emerge. There are indications that the atmospheric opacity might be decreasing over the Opportunity site. Since the last contact with the rover on Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018), Opportunity has likely experienced a low-power fault and perhaps, a mission-clock fault. Additionally, the up-loss timer has also since expired, resulting in another fault condition.

The science team is continuing to listen 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. The science team is also sending a command three times a week, to elicit a beep if the rover happens to be awake.

The science 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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Still no change in Opportunity's status
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 08, 2018
There is no news since the last status update. As reported last week, the planet-encircling dust storm on Mars is showing indications of peaking and perhaps decaying. Dust lifting sites have decreased in extent and some surface features are starting to become visible. The storm has sustained high atmospheric opacity conditions over the Opportunity site, although there are some preliminary indications that the opacity might be decreasing there. Since the last contact with the rover on S ... read more