3.5 YEARS INTO THE MISSION
ILM SFX ANIMATION: Mars orbiting.
LOWER THIRD: SOL 1220
LOWER THIRD: 3.5 YEARS INTO THE MISSION
STEVE SQUYRES: Sometimes dust storms will blow up into a global storm. And this one hit Opportunity the hardest. ILM SFX ANIMATION: WS: Oppy on the slope of Endurance Crater facing the decreasing sun, and she’s accumulating a lot of dust all over her body. The dust storm has fully enveloped the sky/horizon and is getting thicker.
ANGELA BASSETT (V.O.) Rover Diary:
Sol 1226. Opportunity has been fighting for her life. Mars took off its gloves and pounded the Opportunity site with record high levels of dust in the sky. ASHLEY STROUPE: So we had to tweak the rovers’ onboard decision-making process. So that when the power started getting too low…
GFX ROVER MESSAGE: OPPY: SHUTTING DOWN ALL SYSTEMS.
ASHLEY STROUPE: Opportunity could shut herself down to preserve her batteries. Nobody wanted to say out loud that we thought the mission could end at any moment. We could see
the dust storm, we could track it from orbit. But it took weeks before it started to clear.
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