Midweek

BERRY GOOD: This morning, before breakfast, I sent the kids outside to glean some berries for their oatmeal. (Our 'new' yard is almost completely devoid of food producing plants, but we were gifted some potted strawberry and blueberry plants by a friend who was moving a couple of months ago.) 

This morning's harvest, blueberries and strawberries, wasn't particularly bountiful or beautiful. Undersized and not particularly visually impressive, the fruit really wasn't much to look at. The berries were, however, totally organic, and just minutes-old prior to consumption. I can say without hesitation, the strawberries were the sweetest I've had in my 50-plus years. So yay for that! And there's just something sweet about harvesting and eating your own fruit in a meal. 

LOST OPPORTUNITY: Big news from NASA for the past couple of days involves reports that the space agency has lost contact with beloved, stalwart, intrepid, over-achieving Martian rover Opportunity.

Launched on July 7, 2003, to date Opportunity has already exceeded its operating plan by 14 years and 48 days (in Earth time). Impressive, to be sure!

Source: NASA

However, no one at NASA has heard from Opportunity for days now.

Why has Oppy failed to phone home? An enormous Martian dust storm has blotted out the sun. First detected on May 30, the gargantuan storm now blankets 14-million square miles (35-million square kilometers), or about one-quarter of the Red Planet's surface.

Source: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. "This series of images shows simulated views of a darkening Martian sky blotting out the Sun from NASA's Opportunity rover's point of view, with the right side simulating Opportunity's current view in the global dust storm (June 2018). The left starts with a blindingly bright mid-afternoon sky, with the sun appearing bigger because of brightness. The right shows the Sun so obscured by dust it looks like a pinprick."

Per a NASA press release, "The team is now operating under the assumption that the charge in Opportunity’s batteries has dipped below 24 volts and the rover has entered low power fault mode, a condition where all subsystems, except a mission clock, are turned off. The rover’s mission clock is programmed to wake the computer so it can check power levels. If the rover’s computer determines that its batteries don't have enough charge, it will again put itself back to sleep. Due to an extreme amount of dust over Perseverance Valley, mission engineers believe it is unlikely the rover has enough sunlight to charge back up for at least the next several days."

In a press conference today, Richard Zurek, chief scientist for JPL’s Mars Program Office, said scientists had to go back to 1971 to name a worse storm on the Red Planet.The mammoth dust storm has darkened the skies over Opportunity to nearly pitch-black. 

It's worrisome because Opportunity's twin, Spirit, experienced a similar power drain in 2010, and was never heard from again. However, the 'good' news is the Opportunity team saw  the dust storm was turning into a monster, and so they programmed Opportunity to deal with what was, in effect, an emergency situation, putting the rover into an an extended deep sleep. All of its systems are shut down, except for a master clock timed to interrupt the snooze periodically and check the power levels. Once the Martian skies have lightened enough to keep the batteries charged, the rover will recontact Earth, and, hopefully, get back to work.

And so, we wait and watch and hope Opportunity rides out the storm.

For more information about Opportunity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.

GAME WATCH: Over the past two days, the kids have spent some time watching coverage of E3 Expo. The (Internet) broadcasts have been engaging and interesting (this coming from someone who has never played any of the games that are being demonstrated).

I'll have Annabelle tell you more about it.

June 6^th was part of the week-long annual gaming expo E3, a large event where multiple gaming companies share an exhibition hall and present new and upcoming projects. My family decided to watch coverage of Nintendo’s events that day, which included multiple short game showcases and 2 tournaments. One tournament for “Splatoon 2” in celebration of an expansion releasing the next day, and the other for the upcoming 5^th installment in the Super Smash Bros series “Super Smash Bros Ultimate.”

The “Splatoon 2” tournament used the game’s multiple competitive game modes, where you play on a team of 4 people and try to reach a defined goal. The objectives for each match included things like  securing a section of the stage and holding it until time runs out, riding a vehicle to the opponent’s safe point, and throwing items into a net to score points. The team that eventually won was a team from Japan dubbed the “GG Boyz.”

The Super Smash brothers tournament had no teams, but each player had to choose 3 different fighters and use each of them at least once. The contestants assumed they would be competing at the latest game (Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS) until it was announced that they would be using a brand new demo of the unreleased game! The competitors seemed to grasp the new system very well, and the winner even used one of the new unreleased characters! It was a great way to showcase the new features of the game and give a sneak peek at the new additions to the roster!