时间:2024-09-20 08:04:23 来源:网络整理编辑:娛樂
On Mars, dust storm season has commenced.NASA's distant satellite, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
On Mars, dust storm season has commenced.
NASA's distant satellite, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, recently captured a sizable regional dust storm on the Red Planet, encompassing the area where the space agency's Perseverance rover is investigating the Martian surface. This area, a former river delta called Jezero Crater, is shown by the white circle in the image below.
The hazy storm also obscured Syrtis Major, a dark volcanic area hundreds of miles long.
Dusty conditions put a hitch in NASA's plans to once again fly its expectation-exceeding Ingenuity helicopter (part of the Perseverance mission). The air became too dense, and insufficient sunlight would have reached the little experimental chopper's solar panels for a safe flight. (Flight 19 is now scheduled for no earlier than Jan. 23.)
"The presence of this storm came quite early – even before the dusty season traditionally starts!" NASA wrote. "In fact, we have never seen a storm of this strength so early in the Mars year before."
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a regional dust storm on Mars on Jan. 9, 2022.Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSSElsewhere on Mars, thousands of miles away, another dust storm forced NASA's solar-powered InSight lander to power down into "safe mode" on Jan. 7. "In safe mode, a spacecraft suspends all but its essential functions," explained NASA. When dust storms completely drain a Martian robot's batteries, engineers might not be able to restart the machine. A mighty dust storm ended the legendary Opportunity rover's mission in 2018.
Fortunately, InSight, which is recording earthquakes on Mars among other geologic investigations, exited safe mode as the skies began to clear.
SEE ALSO:How a mighty volcanic eruption sent enormous pressure waves all around EarthMartian dust storms can be huge, but they're also normal. "Every year there are some moderately big dust storms that pop up on Mars and they cover continent-sized areas and last for weeks at a time," explained Michael Smith, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Sometimes, these regional dust storms graduate to planet-encompassing monsters. Those great storms occur around every five-and-a-half years. It's an intense extraterrestrial event, and NASA's Mars satellite will watch the stormy scene from space.
Over 82,000 evacuate as Blue Cut fire rapidly spreads in southern California2024-09-20 08:03
Guy sneaks a fake 'Relationship Saving Station' into Ikea2024-09-20 08:01
Whoa, Microsoft just squeezed by Apple in tablet satisfaction2024-09-20 07:01
Great, now you can get dumped via Spotify playlist2024-09-20 06:52
Aly Raisman catches Simone Biles napping on a plane like a champion2024-09-20 06:35
'The Daily Show' skewers Ivanka Trump with the #Ivanktionary2024-09-20 06:25
Facebook to unleash a free version of its Slack killer, Workplace2024-09-20 06:22
Forget 4G, Indian telecom operators working with Nokia to deploy 5G2024-09-20 06:10
Metallica to seek and destroy your eardrums with new album this fall2024-09-20 05:49
Great, now you can get dumped via Spotify playlist2024-09-20 05:48
Daughter gives her 1002024-09-20 08:03
Guy sneaks a fake 'Relationship Saving Station' into Ikea2024-09-20 07:52
There's a museum for penises, but not for vaginas, yet that could change2024-09-20 07:51
Great, now you can get dumped via Spotify playlist2024-09-20 07:41
This chart shows just how high Simone Biles can jump2024-09-20 06:36
There's a museum for penises, but not for vaginas, yet that could change2024-09-20 06:04
Madonna, Queen of Instagram, just threw some serious shade at Kendall Jenner's Pepsi ad2024-09-20 06:03
Facebook to unleash a free version of its Slack killer, Workplace2024-09-20 05:54
One of the most controversial power struggles in media comes to a close2024-09-20 05:46
Stunning graphic novel shows aid workers fighting famine and fear in South Sudan2024-09-20 05:25