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