Dust storm season has begun on Mars.
A large dust storm on the Red Planet has been captured by NASA's distant satellite, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The white circle in the image shows the former river delta of Jezero Crater.
A dark volcanic area hundreds of miles long was obscured by the hazy storm.
NASA's plans to fly its expectation-exceeding Ingenuity helicopter again were put on hold because of the conditions. The sun wouldn't have reached the little experimental chopper's solar panels for a safe flight because of the dense air. Flight 19 is now scheduled for January 23.
Even before the dusty season starts, this storm came quite early. NASA wrote. We have never seen a storm of this strength early in the Mars year before.
A dust storm on Mars was captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA and JPL-Caltech were credited.
On Mars, a dust storm forced NASA's solar-powered InSight lander to go into safe mode. NASA explained that a spacecraft is in safe mode. Engineers might not be able to restart the machine if the dust storms drain the batteries. A dust storm ended Opportunity's mission.
As the skies began to clear, InSight exited safe mode and began recording earthquakes on Mars.
Dust storms on Mars are normal. Michael Smith, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said there are dust storms on Mars that last for weeks at a time.
Sometimes dust storms graduate to monsters. Great storms happen every five and a half years. NASA's Mars satellite will watch the event from space.
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