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Updated:06/05/2022 02:54h
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Las wind and dust storms in Marte they are a usual phenomenon that scientists were aware of. However, until now they had not been filmed. it was the rover Perseveranceof NASA, the one in charge of carrying out the first film in which the real surface of the Red planet whipped up by swirls of dust rising into the air.
An article published in ‘Science Advances’ explains all the weather phenomena observed by the rover in the first 216 Martian days or sols. The new findings allow scientists to better understand dust processes on Mars and contribute to a body of knowledge that could one day help them predict the famous Martian dust storms that pose a threat to future human and robotic explorers.
“Every time we land in a new place on Mars, it’s an opportunity to better understand the planet’s climate,” he explains. Claire Newman, from Aeolis Research, a research company focused on planetary atmospheres. The also first author added that they expect to run into even more exciting weather phenomena: “We had a storm right above us in January, but we are still in the middle of the dust season, so it is very likely that we will see more storms.”
Perseverance made these observations with the rover’s cameras and a set of sensors belonging to the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), a scientific instrument run by Spain’s Center for Astrobiology in collaboration with the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. from NASA. MEDA includes wind sensors, light sensors — which can detect eddies as they scatter sunlight around the rover — and a skyward-facing camera to capture images of dust and clouds.
The Jezero Crater, a reef for storms
“Jezero Crater may be in one of the most active sources of dust on the planet,” he says. Manuel de la Torre Juarez, Associate Principal Investigator for MEDA at JPL-. Anything new we learn about the dust will be useful for future missions.” Because Martian dust is one of the main dangers for the instruments of the Red Planet. The proof is in the InSight probe, which after three years on the surface, has had to stop its activity due to all the dust accumulated on its instruments.
The researchers point out in their study that at least four whirlwinds a day pass over the rover, although their concentration usually occurs just after noon, with more than one daily at this time. Perseverance’s cameras also documented up to three times that gusts of wind raised large clouds of dust, something scientists call “gust lift events». The largest of them created a massive cloud covering 4 square kilometers. From his observations it was estimated that these gusts of wind can collectively kick up as much or more dust than whirlwinds, which outnumber them.
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