Loading…
NASA is still curious about the Dust Devil phenomenon on Mars. Limited resources have been researching the dust devil phenomenon in Nevada’s Mojave Desert for 7 years. Photos/NASA/JPL/Space
The latest study program of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California is to analyze the satanic dust on Earth, to study similar phenomena on Mars. The JPL team is analyzing seven years of pressure data collected by a microbarometer at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site in the Mojave Desert, looking for signs of dust devils.
The study was presented at the 183rd meeting of the American Acoustic Society in Nashville on Wednesday, December 7, 2022. Louis Urtecho, a scholar who conducted the research through JPL, detailed his team’s study of dust devils, or short eddies, in the Mojave Desert.
Read also; Bad, NASA calls the Troubled Mars Perseverance Rover into space
“The abundance of dust devils on Mars could have implications for the survivability of various missions sent there. In fact, dust devils have been a major factor in various missions to Mars previously,” Urtecho said in a statement quoted by SINDOnews from Space.com on Thursday (8/12/2022).
He provided an example of the impact of satanic dust on Mars on the continuity of the Opportunity and Spirit rover missions to Mars. Both of these missions were aborted by dust devils who blew dust onto their solar arrays. “Opportunity has finally succumbed to dust storms on Mars, demonstrating the importance of understanding these dust devils,” she said.
Given the limited resources on Mars, it is difficult to fully study the dust devil phenomenon on Mars. Fortunately, this phenomenon often occurs in the deserts of the Earth.
The JPL team is analyzing seven years of pressure data collected by a microbarometer at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site in the Mojave Desert, looking for signs of dust devils. Usually the sign is a drop in pressure in the middle of a fluctuating vortex like an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal.
Read also; Chinese rover Zhurong successfully records sound from Mars
With so much information to sift through, the team developed an automatic detection algorithm to identify relevant data. Next, the team will adjust its analysis of the Satanic Dust to conditions in the Martian atmosphere.
“The hope is that with the dust devil detector we’ve built, we’ll be able to learn more about the characteristics of the formations and how they move across different landscapes,” Urtecho said.
These detectors will improve the accuracy of Mars weather models, which will directly impact understanding of dust cycles on Mars and the role they play in its evolution. Including operating robotic and possibly manned missions in the future.
(wib)
