An unsettling recording of a massive dust storm on Mars engulfing the NASA Perseverance rover has been made public, providing fresh details on the Red Planet’s dust.
An unsettling recording was made of the massive dust storm that swallowed the Mars Perseverance rover.
It provides fresh insight into how these storms disperse dust on the Red Planet and was photographed as part of an investigation that was reported on December 13 in the journal Nature Communications.
According to the study’s principal author Naomi Murdoch, “We can literally hear the cacophony of particles impacting the rover.
We can count the number of particles in the vortex thanks to the sound of these hits.
This is the first time a measurement of this size has been taken on Mars, the physicist stated.
On Mars, dust is pervasive both on the surface and in the atmosphere, and its movement has an impact on both the planet’s climate and weather.
For mission planning and climatic modeling, Murdoch emphasized the significance of comprehending dust movement.
Dust has over time harmed Perseverance’s wind sensors, and the InSight Lander is winding down operations because of dust buildup on its solar panels.
The quantity of power available for scientific monitoring has been severely constrained as a result.
Large dust storms develop as warm air rising from the earth spins, carrying dust with it.
Currently, Perseverance is investigating the Jezero crater, a popular location for dust devils.
Researchers claim that at least 91 dust devils have been captured by the rover’s Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), which tracks environmental factors like wind, dust, humidity, and temperature.
On September 21, 2021, a dust devil passed over the rover, giving the scientists the opportunity to measure the sight while it was being recorded.
The storm measured 82 feet (25 m) across, or over 10 times wider than the rover, according to three different data sources.
The towering storm, which had a height of 390.4 feet, was traveling at 11.8 mph (19 km/h) and had peak winds of 24.8 mph (40 km/h).
Murdoch continued: “But compared to Earth, the atmosphere on Mars is significantly thinner.
“This indicates that even though the wind speed is strong, the force of the wind is substantially lower than on Earth due to the tiny number of particles in the Martian atmosphere.”
The scientist continued by describing how typically, dust devils pick up particles from the vortex’s walls, but in this case, the dust impacted the rover in three bursts.
She uttered: Today, we’re still unsure of how dust is removed from Mars’ surface.