Wind Advisory
from SAT 12:00 PM MST until SAT 10:00 PM MST, Western Pima County including Ajo/Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Tohono O'odham Nation including Sells, Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys including Nogales, Tucson Metro Area including Tucson/Green Valley/Marana/Vail, South Central Pinal County including Eloy/Picacho Peak State Park, Southeast Pinal County including Kearny/Mammoth/Oracle, Upper San Pedro River Valley including Sierra Vista/Benson, Eastern Cochise County below 5000 ft including Douglas/Wilcox, Upper Gila River and Aravaipa Valleys including Clifton/Safford, White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties including Hannagan Meadow, Galiuro and Pinaleno Mountains including Mount Graham, Chiricahua Mountains including Chiricahua National Monument, Dragoon/Mule/Huachuca and Santa Rita Mountains including Bisbee/Canelo Hills/Madera Canyon, Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains including Mount Lemmon/Summerhaven, Baboquivari Mountains including Kitt Peak, Kofa, Central La Paz, Aguila Valley, Southeast Yuma County, Gila River Valley, Northwest Valley, Tonopah Desert, Gila Bend, Buckeye/Avondale, Cave Creek/New River, Deer Valley, Central Phoenix, North Phoenix/Glendale, New River Mesa, Scottsdale/Paradise Valley, Rio Verde/Salt River, East Valley, Fountain Hills/East Mesa, South Mountain/Ahwatukee, Southeast Valley/Queen Creek, Superior, Northwest Pinal County, West Pinal County, Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, Tonto Basin, Mazatzal Mountains, Pinal/Superstition Mountains, Sonoran Desert Natl Monument, San Carlos, Dripping Springs, Globe/Miami, Southeast Gila County

ASU helping NASA track down missing Mars rover

TEMPE, Ariz. (KSAZ) - It's been nearly two months and there's still no sign of "Opportunity," NASA's rover on the planet Mars.

The car-sized space machine signed off when it disappeared inside a massive dust storm on June 10, and Arizona State University is working with NASA to track it.

"This is the strongest dust storm that we've seen on Mars in the history of observing it, so we had no idea how bad this was going to be and how long it's going to keep 'Opportunity' asleep for," Tanya Harrison said.

If the dust starts to clear from atop the rover's solar panels, scientists say "Opportunity" will awaken, but so far, 65 days have passed and still -- silence.

"We just have to keep trying," Harrison said. "We send what we call a 'beep' pretty much everyday and wait and see if the rover sends a 'beep' back."

Researchers say the Martian dust storms on the Red Planet are actually a lot like those we see in the Valley.

"Here, you can get a lot of damage from the wind itself, like fallen trees and things like that," Harrison said. "On Mars, it's mostly just, there's enough of an atmosphere to aloft the dust and then it just hangs there for a long time. It's kind of like shaking up a snow globe and waiting for all the snow to settle."

Will the dust ever come off of "Opportunity" on its own?

Scientists tell us it's a matter of playing the waiting game.