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How Does NASA Monitor Dust Storm On Mars? - Knowledge
Space.com
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20/10/2024
Learn how NASA’s satellite fleet helps provide weather Information for the missions on the surface of Mars.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Transcript
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00:00
January 2022, a dust storm nearly twice the size of the United States blankets Mars's
00:12
southern hemisphere, reducing sunlight and uniting NASA's spacecraft to help one another
00:17
through the storm.
00:19
NASA's Curiosity rover captured these images as the dust rolled in, obscuring the horizon.
00:26
Also in the storm's path was NASA's InSight lander, which had to stop its science work
00:31
after dust prevented sunlight from reaching the solar panels.
00:35
InSight hunkered down for 11 days to conserve battery power, but didn't weather the storm
00:41
alone.
00:42
A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor dust storms from above, and serves as a lifeline to Earth,
00:48
relaying data from Mars's explorers back to the team.
00:53
Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they
00:58
rise, warming the cold Martian atmosphere.
01:02
Storms are first detected by MRO's Mars Color Imager, or MARSI, which produces a daily global
01:08
weather map.
01:10
As dust rises in the atmosphere, MRO's Mars Climate Sounder instrument measures temperature
01:15
to determine how fast the storm could spread.
01:19
MAVEN studies the upper atmosphere, including how dust affects the escape of water and other
01:24
gases from the atmosphere.
01:27
And for 20 years, Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, has helped measure
01:33
global dust activity over time.
01:36
The orbiter sends most of InSight's data to Earth, but as Odyssey went to check in on
01:41
InSight, it experienced a software issue.
01:45
The Odyssey team swung into action, recovering quickly so engineers could send new instructions
01:51
to InSight.
01:53
The dust even grounded NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, postponing flights until
01:58
conditions improved.
02:01
Dust storms form during all Martian seasons.
02:03
Some can balloon in a matter of days, like the 2018 global dust storm, which led to the
02:09
end of NASA's Opportunity rover.
02:12
Despite the challenges dust creates for spacecraft, studying storms is critical for creating future
02:17
weather forecasts and preparing for a potential human mission to Mars.
02:24
To get the latest updates, follow at NASA JPL and at NASA Mars on social media, or take
02:31
a deeper dive on the mission websites at mars.nasa.gov.
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