Martian assault fighters: spacecraft observe the dust storm

The high-resolution stereo camera embedded on ESA's Mars Express captured this impressive rising front of dust clouds – visible in the right half of the frame – near the northern polar cap of Mars in April this year. Image Credit and Legend: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin

A fleet of spacecraft is diligently studying the dust storm that is currently surrounding Mars. Just as storm hunters would do it on Earth, they are collecting valuable data so that scientists can better understand how these storms form and evolve.

The current dust storm began as a small regional event in early June. On June 20, it had become the first global dust storm on Mars since 2007. With seven spacecraft actively observing Mars, scientists are studying the behavior of dust storms around the world.

Opportunity of NASA Rover is in a "safe mode" because of a lack of sunlight to charge his batteries. Four other NASA spacecraft observe the storm from the surface of the planet and from the orbit. In addition, the European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express and E xoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission ( Mangalyaan ) also observe the current storm. Since all spacecraft were designed for different missions, everyone was able to adapt their observations to make the best use of their onboard instruments

Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan)

The Organization Indian Space Research (ISRO)) was discreet about any dust storm sighting that Mangalyaan might collect. The spaceship is known to be equipped with a suite of instruments to examine the atmosphere that it could use to monitor the dust storm. It is able to collect temperature readings from the surface and examine the composition of the planet's exosphere and how that could change during the storm. It is also equipped with a color camera and can make visual observations of the evolution of the storm.

Mars Express

Mars Express of the ESA is able to collect measurements of change in atmospheric composition. storm. It is also equipped with a high resolution stereo camera (HRSC) that can capture detailed images of storm progression. A recently published image shows the front of a small dust storm near the northern polar cap in April

The Visual Surveillance Camera (VMC) is a web camera mounted on Mars Express which offers a lower resolution. views of the planet. An image tweeted by VMC on Wednesday (July 25) showed a substantial decrease in atmospheric dust cover revealing surface features, such as Valles Marineris for the first time in several weeks.

New VMC Images directly from Mars! 9 images taken 21:59:30 24.07.2018 https://t.co/fwSs4cJFKi #marswebcam pic.twitter.com/s7XtlA1HIL

– VMC Webcam – Mars (@esamarswebcam) 25 July 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

As its name indicates, on Trace Gas Orbiter is equipped to monitor the seasonal concentrations of trace gaseous compounds in the Martian atmosphere. Specifically methane but also water vapor, nitrogen oxides and acetylene. It is currently unknown to what extent a global dust storm can impact seasonal variations of methane and other volatile substances in the atmosphere, and the spacecraft is in first position to make observations that could answer these questions.

Changes in temperature and atmospheric composition to help refine existing climate models. Understanding how these factors have changed during construction, during and after the current dust storm, should help scientists better predict the timing of the onset and cessation of future global storms.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter [19659009] Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) NASA has two main instruments that examine the dust storm – the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) and the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS). MARCI maps the entire planet in the middle of the afternoon every day to track the movement and the evolution of the storm in order to facilitate the creation of planetary weather maps. These maps are used by the mission teams Opportunity and Curiosity to help plan activities around the March weather. MCS measures the temperature profile of the atmosphere and can track changes in temperature gradients in the atmosphere throughout the storm.

Like weather conditions on Earth, temperature differences can cause wind changes from small to large. impact on the circulation of air in the atmosphere. Understanding when, where and why the air is moving up and down in different parts of Mars is essential to understanding how storms are globalizing.

"The very fact that you can start with something that is a local storm, no bigger than a small [US] state, then trigger something that raises more dust and produces a haze that covers the almost all of the planet is remarkable, "said Rich Zurek, the MRO project scientist.

Video published with the kind permission of NASA

Mars Odyssey

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The Mars Odyssey THEMIS Instrument allows scientists to follow the surface and the surface of the planet. the temperature as well as the amount of dust in the atmosphere. By monitoring dust levels in the atmosphere, scientists can directly track the initial development, growth, and eventual dissipation of the storm.

"It's one of the biggest weather phenomena on Mars" since the start of space ship observations. 1960, said Michael Smith, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, who works on the THEMIS instrument. "Having another example of a dust storm really helps us understand what's going on."

"Every March, during the dusty season, there are a lot of local or regional storms that cover an area of ​​the planet," Smith said. In an attempt to better understand how dust storms become globalized, the frequency of THEMIS 'overall observations has been increased from once every 10 days to twice a week

MAVEN

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L & # The atmosphere of Mars and the volatile evolution Mission (MAVEN) arrived in orbit over March in 2014. It was launched to study the history of the world. Martian atmosphere, which would have been considerably denser at the beginning of the life of the planet. To understand how the atmosphere has gradually eroded over time, MAVEN focuses most of its instruments on the planet's exosphere and the boundary between the atmosphere and space .

Rather than directly studying the dust storm, the MAVEN team The dust storm affects the upper atmosphere. It is now thought that the planet has lost a considerable amount of its atmosphere due to the solar wind about 3.5 to 4.0 billion years ago on the basis of recent observations from MAVEN. As the dust storm progresses, the spacecraft will study how dust storms influence the current loss of molecules from the top of the Martian atmosphere. These observations should help refine the modeling efforts of the atmospheric evolution

Curiosity

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While scientists wait Opportunity to wake up, the rover Curiosity resists the storm as the only spacecraft transmitting observations of the surface. The nuclear – powered rover is not affected by the reduction of sunlight due to the dust in the atmosphere, so it is able to continue as usual, but it does collect energy. other observations relating to storms.

at the present time, "said Ashwin Vasavada, of JPL, Scientific Curiosity Project . "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 LG is equipped with a weather station, the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), which can provide direct surface measurements of the storm." REMS provides daily measurements including atmospheric pressure , humidity, wind speed and direction, as well as air and ground temperature near the mobile.In addition to visible light cameras such as Mastcam, the ChemCam of the. Spacecraft and ultraviolet sensor on REMS can collect information on how the abundance and size of dust particles in the atmosphere evolve with time

Marked: Curiosity Dust Storm ExoMars Lead Success Mars Mars Express Mars Odyssey Mars Orbiter Mission Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter MAVEN Opportunity

Paul Knightly

Paul is currently a graduate student in Space and Planetary Science at the University of Chicago. Akransas in Fayetteville. He grew up in the Kansas City area and began to take an interest in space at a young age at the start of the Twin Mars Exploration Rover missions in 2003. He began his aerospace engineering studies before moving on to at geology at Wichita State University where he earned a BSc in 2013. After working as an environmental geologist for a civil engineering firm, he began his graduate studies in 2016 and is actively working on a PhD that will focus on surface process of Mars. He also participated in a two-week simulation at Mars Society's March Desert Research Station in 2014 and remains involved in analog mission studies today. Over the years, Paul has been interested in science outreach and communication. He has notably held a personal blog on high school space exploration during his undergraduate career and has lectured in schools and other organizations. space. He is pleased to bring his experience as a geologist and scientist to the Spaceflight Insider team that writes primarily on space science topics.

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