On Mars, NASA’s Opportunity rover has run out of so much power it can’t communicate with Earth anymore — but that doesn’t mean the vehicle is dead yet. The robot is in a deep sleep, thanks to a particularly nasty dust storm that’s blocking sunlight from hitting its solar panels. NASA engineers are optimistic that the rover will be able to wake up and do science again once the storm has cleared up. But they’re still worried.
“It’s like you have a loved one in a coma in the hospital,” John Callas, the project manager for Opportunity at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said during a press conference. “You have the doctors telling you that, ‘Okay, you just have to give it time, and she’ll wake up.’ All the vital signs are good, so it’s just waiting it out.” He added: “By no means are we out of the woods here.”
The last time anyone heard from Opportunity was on the morning of June 10th, when it sent a radio transmission indicating that its energy production was at an all-time low. That prompted NASA to declare a “spacecraft emergency,” since Opportunity wasn’t generating enough power to continue doing its most basic functions. When NASA tried contacting Opportunity yesterday, June 12th, the rover didn’t reply. That means it’s gone into a very low power mode.
We are angry, frustrated, and in pain because of the violence and murder of Black people by the police because of racism. We are in the fight AGAINST RACISM. George Floyd was murdered, his life stolen. The Adafruit teams have specific actions we’ve done, are doing, and will do together as a company and culture. We are asking the Adafruit community to get involved and share what you are doing. The Adafruit teams will not settle for a hash tag, a Tweet, or an icon change. We will work on real change, and that requires real action and real work together. That is what we will do each day, each month, each year – we will hold ourselves accountable and publish our collective efforts, partnerships, activism, donations, openly and publicly. Our blog and social media platforms will be utilized in actionable ways. Join us and the anti-racist efforts working to end police brutality, reform the criminal justice system, and dismantle the many other forms of systemic racism at work in this country, read more @ adafruit.com/blacklivesmatter
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Summer of Making, CircuitPython Day Announced and more! #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython @circuitpython @micropython @ThePSF
Adafruit IoT Monthly — Repurposed Smart Home Displays, Open-Source 5G Networks, and more!
