Quote from: Phil Stooke on 10/02/2018 04:53 pmAre there attempts to contact Opportunity using the Mars orbiters, or just using the DSN?The orbiters are not much use here - they are only in potential contact for brief periods, whereas the DSN can transmit or listen for hours at a time if necessary.
Are there attempts to contact Opportunity using the Mars orbiters, or just using the DSN?
It looks like it might be worth repeating that former and current Opportunity engineers have said that contact is most likely to be reestablished during Cleaning Season. ..That season runs November through January, so we've yet to even enter it. Patience indeed.
It takes a non-trivial amount of effort to set up the DSN for the sweep-and-beep passes. They will continue passive listening, which will detect the rover if it wakes up on its own, which is the expected outcome. AFAIK, active listening doesn't improve the chances of recovery, just restores contact sooner.
Here's what Michael Staab says about this article. The efforts to contact Oppy continue, unless NASA says otherwise:https://twitter.com/AstroStaab/status/1055277787089559552
I would have thought restoring contact and operations sooner rather than later would be the preferred outcome?
Michael Staab, the engineer who gave the only Opportunity recovery presentation to that mid-term review board.