Mars Rovers Still Alive Despite Dust Storm

The twin rovers on Mars were in good shape Monday, despite widespread dust storms that worsened last week and threatened to cut off solar power to the robotic explorers.

Steve Squyres of Cornell University, the lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Rovers project, said that both Spirit and Opportunity are in "excellent shape" based on a radio transmission received Monday morning.

The amount of sunlight penetrating the dust-choked Martian atmosphere has increased slightly in recent days, and the batteries of both rovers are fully charged, said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Explorations Program at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Even though the rovers were not designed to weather dust storms of this magnitude, Meyers said mission scientists and engineers are optimistic the rovers will survive the dust storms, which have been raging for nearly a month now.

All scientific observations and driving-including a planned descent into Victoria Crater by Opportunity-remain suspended, for now, to conserve power. Mission scientists will "wait and make sure that the storm doesn't kick back up," Meyers said. "They're going to wait it out a few more days to make sure." (Fox News)