We are actually there. Nili Planum. The outer edge of Syrtis Major, that dark “peninsula” one sees even through backyard telescopes, a big part of all those studies that people like Percival Lowell or Schiaparelli did, when the dreamer types were still looking for vegetation and canals. We’ve never known anything like this on Mars, even after decades of rovers exploring the planet.
It might be nice if we could actually see it!
We are now weeks into the springtime, but this muddy winter gloom just goes on and on and on. And there is so much to see here!
Do Mars rovers get a day of on duststorm days? Just cause it could be dangerous to move around outside with such low visibility.
a day of on duststorm days?
Ha, I wish it was just a day.
Adding to what Paul Hammond wrote, Perseverance, the rover itself, has not been forced to stop yet for bad visibility. The storms have never gotten that bad here in Jezero since this mission started 2+ Martian years ago, and we haven’t seen a really bad “global” storm since that 2018 one. Unfortunately, even smaller Martian storms can lift the dust so damned high in the atmosphere that it takes weeks or even months to fall out, and the winter season is known to be dusty, so… we’re stuck with this scenery-killing haze for a while.
Oh wow. Thanks for the conetxt. I think it’s pretty crazy to think that it can take months for the dust to settle.
If they encountered a really bad storm that reduced visibility to a point where it could be hazardous to drive, they would restrict movement until the storm abated, because they use a series of images acquired throughout the drives to reduce hazards.
Opportunity rover was unfortunate to be affected by such a storm back in 2018, one of its last images (thumbnail) was pointed at the sun, but the sun was barely visible. The solar powered rover did not survive that storm. Such storms would not affect the rovers currently exploring Mars as they are nuclear powered, but operations would definitely be affected.
On the other hand, the solar powered Mars helicopter did have storm days in Jezero. where it was stood down due to increased levels of dust.
Intresting. I didn’t know that. Also crazy to think that the rover died from a storm, but not because it was knocked over or something. So the Martian weather forecast for now is “dusty, so drive carefully out there”