NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Captures Rare Tornado Phenomenon on Mars

CNN Indonesia

Wednesday, 13 Dec 2023 08:51 WIB

NASA’s rover has succeeded in capturing the tornado phenomenon that occurred on the planet Mars. (Photo: Nasa.gov web screenshot)

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

Explorer ride MarsPerseverance, property NASA immortalized the tornado phenomenon on day 899 of the Mars exploration mission, or on August 30.

This six-wheeled geological exploration vehicle captured views of the tornado as part of an atmospheric exploration of the Jezero Crater.

The sighting was captured by Perseverance’s Navcams. The tornado is estimated to have appeared at a location called Thorofare Ridge, about 4 kilometers from where Perseverance is located, with an area of ​​60 meters and a speed of 19 km/hour.

Waterspouts are much smaller than tornadoes on Earth and are one of the mechanisms that move and distribute dust on Mars. Scientists study it to better understand the Martian atmosphere and improve weather models.

Although only the bottom 118 meters of the vortex were visible in the camera, scientists were also able to estimate its true height.

“We didn’t see the top of the waterspout, but the shadow it cast gave us a good indication of its height,” said Mark Lemmon, a planetary scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

“Most of them are vertical columns. If this waterspout were configured like that, its shadow would show that it was about 2 kilometers high,” he continued.

Tornadoes on Earth usually form when the ground is heated by the Sun which makes the air rise, then creates low pressure in the atmosphere. Next, the air fills the low pressure so that a tornado is formed.

However, waterspouts that occur on Mars can grow to be much larger and appear during the spring and summer months.

Scientists cannot predict when a tornado will appear in a particular location. So, Perseverance and NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity routinely monitor their whereabouts, taking black-and-white images to reduce the amount of data sent to Earth.

Quoted from JPL NASAthe main goal of the Perseverance mission on Mars is astrobiology, including looking for signs of ancient microbial life.

This rover will study the geology and climate of Mars in the past, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and being the first mission to collect and store Martian rocks and regolith (rock fragments and dust).

NASA’s next mission, in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), will send a space probe to Mars to collect sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes the Artemis mission to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

(can/dmi)

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2023-12-13 01:51:00
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