Dust on Mars wreaks havoc on various pieces of equipment humans decide to send to it, such as Insight's continual loss of power or the losses of Opportunity and spirit. We don't know what causes the dust to get up into the air. The equipment that is affected by it is usually sent to a place where there isn't a lot of dust. Dust devils are thought to cause some of the dust in the atmosphere on Mars. Strong winds make a difference too.
The data collected by Perseverance's instruments is reported in a new paper by a team of over 45 scientists. The Radiation and Dust Sensor is part of a larger package of instruments.
Changes in the environment around the rover can be detected by this instrument. Dust devils are the most probable cause of those changes.
It's not enough to detect the changes on their own, as they could be caused by other sources. The RDS and theTIRS can provide data on the radiative flux around the rover. Scientists can say whether or not a dust devil has overtaken the rover with the combined data sets.
They do it a lot. The rover is subjected to updrafts about four times a day. One of those four carries enough dust to be considered a "dust devil." They seem to be the source of most of the dust. The other sources aren't the only ones.
There was some evidence for strong wind gusts that don't form into a dust devil and might force a significant amount of dust into the air themselves. The largest was ten times larger than the largest dust devil. Even if they are weaker, they could lift smaller grains of dust high into the air.
The credit is NASA, JPL, and U Arizona.
Both dust devils and wind gusts could cause an equal amount of dust in the Martian atmosphere, according to the scientists. Instruments on Mars that can collect data on the underlying cause of the dust is a breakthrough in understanding the Martian environment. If it ever comes to that, it could help us find a way to disrupt it.
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The environment of Jezero crater is dynamic.
Dust storms on Mars happen when the planet can't release its heat fast enough.
The UT has an amazing view of how dust storms grow on Mars.
UT is about a single dust devil on Mars.
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