NASA spots silent Opportunity rover on Mars
Washington, Sep 26 : A NASA Mars orbiter has spotted the agency's Opportunity rover on the Red Planet for the first time since it went into hibernation after a dust storm swept over the region a little more than 100 days ago and blocked sunlight from reaching the rover.
A high-resolution camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured the image of the rover on the slopes of the Red Planet's Perseverance Valley, NASA said in a statement on Tuesday.
But the future of Opportunity is still in limbo as NASA has still not heard from the 14-year-old solar-powered rover. The image of the rover, taken on September 20, was produced from about 267 kilometres above the Martian surface.
The image showed that the dust storm over Perseverance Valley has substantially cleared.
NASA scientists estimated that the tau -- a measurement of how much sunlight reaches the surface -- over Opportunity to be a little higher than 10 during some points during the dust storm.
The higher the tau, the less sunlight is available.
The tau has steadily fallen in the last several months. On September 20, tau was estimated to be about 1.3 by MRO's Mars Color Imager camera.
According to scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, Opportunity will need a tau of less than 2.0 before the solar-powered rover will be able to recharge its batteries.
No signal from Opportunity has been heard since june 10.
In an attempt to talk to the rover, the Opportunity team is increasing the frequency of commands it beams to the rover via the dishes of NASA's Deep Space Network from three times a week to multiple times per day.
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Two arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting woman at knifepoint in Kochi
Kochi (PTI): Two persons have been arrested after a three-member gang allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at knifepoint near Ernakulam Junction Railway station, officials said on Friday.
The arrested accused were identified as Danish (26), a native of Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram district, and Rahul (39), a native of Paravoor in Kollam district.
Police officials said they were searching for the prime accused, Sanjay, a native of Aroor in Alappuzha district.
According to police, the incident occurred on the night of May 5 when the victim was chatting with her friend near a closed hotel near Ernakulam Junction Railway station.
Officials said the accused approached them, attacked the victim’s friend and then allegedly threatened the woman with a knife before sexually assaulting her.
Police said the accused also allegedly disrobed the victim during the attack.
However, the woman managed to escape from the spot and approached a nearby shop for help.
Police were informed immediately and shifted the victim to the police station.
Officials said the accused were heavily drunk at the time of the incident and went into hiding soon after the attack.
Police registered a case on May 6 under charges including rape, disrobing a woman, criminal intimidation and robbery.
The two accused were later arrested in the city, while efforts are continuing to trace Sanjay, police said.
The accused were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.
