The Past May 30 The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) of NASA detected the formation of a dust storm on Mars . For the June 20 the meteorological phenomenon has completely completely enveloped the planet in red. On Thursday, July 19, NASA released a video showing the evolution of the storm whose dust enveloped the surface at that time.

Scientists have observed that dust storms occur every six or eight years which equates to three to four Martian years). However, still there is not enough data on the causes of their formation and their evolution because they only occur from time to time. Until now, what is known, is that the storms that became global on Mars occur when several small storms raise enough dust to wrap the surface of the red planet.

Michael Smith scientist of the Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt and who works on the THEMIS instrument, said in the NASA statement:

It is the only one in the world. one of the biggest weather events we saw on Mars [desde que comenzaron las observaciones de naves espaciales en la década de 1960]. Having another example of a dust storm really helps us understand what's going on.

While Opportunity goes into hibernation mode because of the impossibility of reloading his solar panels for the storm, his brother Curiosity studied the Martian soil of Gale crater . Fortunately, says NASA, dust has acted as an atmospheric insulator, which has prevented nighttime temperatures from falling below what Opportunity can handle.

According to a storm that occurred in 2001, scientists after NASA, the haze resulting from the global storm on Mars could be dispelled until September . By then, the conditions could be favorable enough for to reconnect with Opportunity . However, it is possible that the solar panels of the rover were covered with a thin layer of dust which would delay its recovery weeks or even months.

The video shared by NASA is presented below:

In addition to curiosity and the MRO, this window of opportunity for scientists also was put to good use by Mars Odyssey and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), who adapted their observations to study this global storm and learn more about the weather conditions of Mars