What can dust devils on Mars teach scientists about the Red Planet’s weather and climate cycles? This is what a recent study published in Science Advances hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated dust devil migration across the surface of Mars. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the climate and weather patterns on Mars, which could help determine when life might have existed there.
For the study, the researchers used a machine learning algorithm to analyze data obtained from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express and ExoMars orbiters beginning in 2004 and 2016, respectively. In total, the researchers analyzed 1,039 dust devils, of which they analyzed 373 for their direction of motion. In the end, the researchers successfully measured surface wind speeds up to 44 meters per second (144 feet per second), which translates to 158 kilometers per hour (98 miles per hour). While these speeds are faster than previously measured and hypothesized, the atmospheric pressure on Mars is a fraction of Earth’s, thus a human standing on the surface would barely notice the speeds.
Credit: ExoMars TGO data: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS; Mars Express data: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin; Background: NASA Viking colour mosaic
“Information on wind speeds and directions is also really important when planning the arrival of future landers and rovers at Mars,” said Dr. Valentin Bickel, who is from the University of Bern and lead author of the study. “Our measurements could help scientists build up an understanding of wind conditions at a landing site before touchdown, which could help them estimate how much dust might settle on a rover’s solar panels – and therefore how often they should self-clean.”
This study comes as NASA and other space agencies around the world plan to send the first humans to Mars sometime in the 2030s and 2040s. Additionally, the search for ancient life on Mars continues to pique the interest of the scientific community. Therefore, studies like this can help scientists not only prepare for future human missions but also help better understand the past climate of Mars and whether life might have existed there.
What new discoveries about weather patterns and the climate of Mars will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Science Advances, EurekAlert!