Posted on 06/10/2018 7:16:53 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The Martian dust storm was first spotted from space by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA officials said.
"As soon as the orbiter team saw how close the storm was to Opportunity, they notified the rover's team to begin preparing contingency plans," NASA officials said in a statement. "In a matter of days, the storm had ballooned."
As of Friday (June 8), the storm covers more than 7 million square miles of Mars (18 million square kilometers), according to NASA. That's an area larger than all of North America on Earth.
"Full dust storms like this one are not surprising, but are infrequent," NASA officials said in the statement. "They can crop up suddenly but last weeks, even months."
…
By Wednesday (June 6), Opportunity's power levels saw a major drop, forcing the rover to stop all science to conserve power. If the storm lasts too long, the main concern will be the Martian cold, a danger Opportunity has faced in the past, NASA officials said.
"There is a risk to the rover if the storm persists for too long and Opportunity gets too cold while waiting for the skies to clear," NASA wrote in the statement. Cold is thought to be what killed NASA's Spirit rover, Opportunity's twin, in 2010 after that robot got stuck in the Martian sand.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Global Warming!
Trump’s fault!
The atmosphere on mars in 95% CO 2. Why aren’t they burning up?
What!?! No pictures???
CA....
I’ll have to remember that when I want to shut up a libtard.
Methane again?
Mars has cows?
You know this can’t be good for the crops.
Last week they appear to have discovered methane. I had a feeling that bit of sarcasm needed a tag.
A Mars Haboob!
Now they’ve seen everything.
The Opportunity Rover is one of the best stories, adventures, and successful endeavors for not just NASA, but for humanity. It was guaranteed to last 90 days. It has roved Mars since January of 2004. I believe that is just a tad longer than 90 days.
Way Cool.
Maybe the dust storm watched the movie “Mission to Mars” and decided to duplicate its dust storm. Remember, lots of earth movies are broadcast into space. If so, that could be a reason why we’ve never been invaded. Aliens wouldn’t want to have to deal with the mess we have down here, esp. the Democrats.
PS: I’m working on an updated book version of “To Serve Man”.
It is called “To Serve Men, Women, and Inbetweens” A 10 gallon jar of BBQ sauce comes with each book sold (earth money only accepted as payment).
Great climate for Mars colonists.
Better looking that some of the “earthgirls” around here. No tattoos, either.
And people want to live there?
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