Mars rovers, orbiter study huge dust storm


NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and two planet-based explorers are tracking a huge dust storm, offering scientists an opportunity to study the planet’s weather like none they’ve had before.

The regional dust storm was first spotted on Nov. 10 in the planet’s southern hemisphere. Although the storm is considered only “regional,” it’s big enough that it has lowered air pressure on both sides of the planet and increased temperatures on the opposite pole by changing the atmosphere’s circulation.

Scientists are waiting to see whether it will develop into a “dust haze” that will engulf the planet.

“For the first time since the Viking missions of the 1970s, we are studying a regional dust storm both from orbit and with a weather station on the surface,” said Rich Zurek, chief Mars scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, Calif., in a statement.

The storm has come within 900 miles of Mars rover Opportunity, which landed on the planet in 2004 and depends on the sun for energy. On the other side of the planet is Curiosity, the 1-ton, nuclear-powered mobile laboratory that landed this year. If the dust storm expands, the two rovers, combined with the Reconnaissance Orbiter, should provide an unprecedented view.
