Martian dust storm goes global
Data from orbit and from Curiosity at Gale Crater confirms that the dust storm that has shut down Opportunity is now a global storm, encircling Mars.
The Martian dust storm has grown in size and is now officially a “planet-encircling” (or “global”) dust event.
Though Curiosity is on the other side of Mars from Opportunity, dust has steadily increased over it, more than doubling over the weekend. The sunlight-blocking haze, called “tau,” is now above 8.0 at Gale Crater — the highest tau the mission has ever recorded. Tau was last measured near 11 over Opportunity, thick enough that accurate measurements are no longer possible for Mars’ oldest active rover.
This will be first global storm to occur on Mars since Curiosity landed in 2012, thus giving scientists the best opportunity to study such an event.
Meanwhile, Opportunity remains silent. This does not mean it is dead, but that it doesn’t have enough sunlight to charge its batteries. It might die during this storm if the storm lasts long enough, but we won’t know one way or the other until the storm finally eases.
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Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Data from orbit and from Curiosity at Gale Crater confirms that the dust storm that has shut down Opportunity is now a global storm, encircling Mars.
The Martian dust storm has grown in size and is now officially a “planet-encircling” (or “global”) dust event.
Though Curiosity is on the other side of Mars from Opportunity, dust has steadily increased over it, more than doubling over the weekend. The sunlight-blocking haze, called “tau,” is now above 8.0 at Gale Crater — the highest tau the mission has ever recorded. Tau was last measured near 11 over Opportunity, thick enough that accurate measurements are no longer possible for Mars’ oldest active rover.
This will be first global storm to occur on Mars since Curiosity landed in 2012, thus giving scientists the best opportunity to study such an event.
Meanwhile, Opportunity remains silent. This does not mean it is dead, but that it doesn’t have enough sunlight to charge its batteries. It might die during this storm if the storm lasts long enough, but we won’t know one way or the other until the storm finally eases.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
This is why we need nuclear power.
The electric universe model contends Mars global dust storms tie in with opposition of earth.
wodun–
nail on the head. Every probe should be powered by internal nuclear.
–a repeat from me, but lots of good factoids contained therein:
Mars Dust Storm News
JPL teleconference 6-13-18
https://youtu.be/fIKxdRFx2Wo
(1:00:21)
–Teleconference reports the “Tau” was “11.5,” and they have pictures of what the sun currently looks like from the surface.
-Opportunity is powered by solar cells, but in the main instrument bay there are multiple small nuclear units that provide 8 watts of heat-energy to the electronics. (This is the first time I’ve heard this described, and I am unclear on specifics.)
-“Maximum design low-temperature is -50C, maximum operating low-temp is -40C, and during this storm they expect low temps to bottom out at -37C.”
–On the upside, from past storm experience– accumulated dust on the optics has tended to shed itself almost completely during good weather. The camera’s are finely calibrated and any remaining dust aberration can be taken out digitally in post-production.
Orion314–
can you give me the 5 cent tour on the “Electric Universe?”
I see a lot of youtube stuff listed with that Topic, but I’ve never delved deeply.
Wayne,
Plug nickel tour. In the electric universe, impact craters are formed by lightning, not impacts…
Opportunity was designed to only last 90 days. Would have been a waste to send it with a nuclear source.
BSJ-
thank you, and…point taken.
-just a personal preference for over-engineering. (I only play an engineer, on the interweb)
And yes– can’t beat the lifespan!
tangential– (we are, living in the Future)
“Mariner 6 and 7 Programs Missions to Mars,”
JPL 1969
https://youtu.be/1rqjywAXYks
20:46
[from the Atlas Centaur Heritage Film Collection which was donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum by Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance. The Collection contains 3,000 reels of 16-millimeter film. ]
Yeah, some of the E-Universe stuff sounds like it makes a lot of sense. Other times, not so much!
I checked out when I read about that part of the “theory”.
look up thunderbolts project , on youtube , a starter for the electric universe model