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Side-by-side films show how dust has enveloped the red planet, thanks to the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The May view shows the Valles Marineris chasms (left), the center of Meridiani, an autumn dust storm at Acidalia (top) and the polar cap in early spring (below). The July view shows the same regions, but most of the surface has been obscured by the cloud of dust and haze surrounding the planet.
In the last month, Mars has presented a spectacular show in our night sky. The show will culminate on July 27, 2018, when the Earth will pass between Mars and the sun, bringing Mars to opposition the very night that Mars will be close to a totally eclipsed moon! All of this is wonderful for sky observers, but space scientists now have a day on Mars with them too. The same event that makes Mars brighter for us – it's March, 16 September 2018, the perihelion or closest point of the sun – has also created conditions for a global dust storm, which has now raged for more by one month
NASA said:
For scientists observing the red planet from data collected by NASA's orbiters, last month has been a boon. Global dust storms, where a series of runaway storms create a dust cloud so large that it envelops the planet, only appear every six to eight years (three to four years). March). Scientists still do not understand why and how these storms form and evolve.
Side-by-side films show how dust has enveloped the red planet, thanks to the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) wide angle camera. Orbiter Recognition (MRO). Image via NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
For NASA's Rover Opportunity, the dust storm was not good news. NASA said it meant:
… a sudden drop in visibility from a clear, sunny day to that of a cloudy sky. Because Opportunity works with solar energy, scientists had to suspend their scientific activities to preserve the robot's batteries. As of July 18, no response has been received from the rover
Read more about the possible fate of NASA's Opportunity
But other spacecraft from NASA – on the ground and in orbit – observe the dust storm. In fact, NASA said:
Orbiter Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) are adapting their observations of the red planet to study this global storm and learn about the weather conditions of Mars . Meanwhile, the Curiosity rover is studying the dust storm on the surface of Mars.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has two instruments that study the dust storm. Every day, its Mars Color Imager maps the entire planet in the middle of the afternoon to follow the course of the storm. Meanwhile, his Mars Climate Sounder instrument measures how the temperature of the atmosphere changes with altitude. Rich Zurek of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, is the scientist of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project. Zurak said:
The very fact that you can start with something that is a local storm, no bigger than a small state [U.S.] then trigger something that raises more dust and produces a haze that covers almost the entire planet is remarkable,
The MAVEN orbiter has been running around Mars since 2014. Since it's entered the orbit of Mars, said Bruce Jakosky, l & # 39; main investigator of the orbiter,
… one of the things we expected was a global dust storm.
NASA stated that MAVEN does not study the dust storm itself. Instead:
… the MAVEN team wants to study how the dust storm affects the upper atmosphere of Mars, about 62 miles (over 100 km) above the surface – where the dust does not even reach. MAVEN's mission is to understand what happened to the atmosphere of Mars. We know that at one point, billions of years ago, liquid water came together and sank along the surface of Mars, which means that its atmosphere was to be thicker and more insulating, similar to that of the Earth.
Since MAVEN arrived in March in 2014, his research has shown that this atmosphere may have been stripped by a torrent of solar wind over several hundred million years, between 3.5 and 4.0 billion d & # 39; years.
nuances to understand, like how dust storms like today's affect the way atmospheric molecules escape into space … For example , the dust storm acts as an atmospheric insulator, trapping the heat of the sun. Does this heating change the way molecules escape from the atmosphere?
Most of NASA's spacecraft are studying the dust storm from above. And the opportunity rover is currently inoperable. But the Curiosity rover – designed to explore Gale Crater on Mars – does not suffer the same fate as Opportunity. This is because Curiosity does not work at solar energy. It is a nuclear-powered scientific machine – and thus largely immune to the darkened skies by Mars dust – which still collects scientific data as dust flies around it.
Ashwin Vasavada of JPL, Curiosity project scientist:
are working the double duty right now. Our newly commissioned drill builder acquires a sample of fresh rock. But we also use instruments to study the evolution of the dust storm.
The Curiosity of NASA:
Curiosity has many "eyes" capable of determining the abundance and size of dust particles. This includes his Mastcam, ChemCam … his suite of meteorological instruments [called the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, or REMS]. The REMS can also help study atmospheric tides – pressure changes that move in the form of waves in the thin air of the entire planet. These tides change drastically depending on where the dust is in the world, not just inside the crater of Gale.
The global storm can also reveal secrets about devils and Martian dust winds. Dust devils can occur when the surface of the planet is warmer than the air above. The heater generates air swirls, some of which pick up dust and become dust devils. During a dust storm, there is less direct sunlight and less heat during the day;
Even new drilling can advance the science of dust storms: observing small clumps of loose materials created by the Curiosity exercise is the best way to monitor the winds
to last several more months . Expect new scientific results from this great opportunity to study nature on another world!
Conclusion: How various spacecraft from NASA are studying the continuing dust storm on Mars.
Via NASA
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