The storm, "the likes of which has never been seen on Earth", may require a change in the trajectory of a new spacecraft, which is making its way to the red and arid planet
A huge sandstorm, with dimensions unknown on Earth, has been taking place over the last few months on the surface of Mars. It will oblige the US space agency, NASA, which is following it with great interest, to change the trajectory of a research satellite, which is about to enter the day after tomorrow, October 23, into orbit around the Red Planet.
The giant sandstorm, which covers the entire surface of Mars, is probably the largest known, since decades. It is now being monitored using the Hubble space telescope and mainly with the help of the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, which is in orbit around the planet and engages in continuous, day-to-day mapping of its surface.
The "Hubble" does not provide high-resolution images like those produced by the aforementioned spacecraft - but even so, the images that reached the space agency's screens emphasize the dimensions of the giant sand clouds.
Sandstorms are a fairly common event on Mars, in the different seasons. Mars is now approaching its closest point to the Sun - where it should absorb very large amounts of radiation from it.
However, because of the sandstorm, in recent months the temperature of the surface of Mars actually dropped by about 10 degrees. This happened under the influence of the sand clouds, which block the sun's radiation.
On the other hand, there was an increase of about 50 degrees in the temperature of the upper layers of the Martian atmosphere - and it is also attributed to the sand, which rose into this atmosphere and was warmed by the sun's radiation. The current storm began earlier than expected - at the beginning of spring in the northern half of the planet.
The data that came from the "Hubble" and the spacecraft made it possible to precisely locate the sources of the sand, and to track the movement of the sand clouds.
It turned out, that the sandstorm broke out in the "Las Lake", as a local event. But storms developed in its wake
More, in areas thousands of kilometers apart. A week after the start of the storm at the first center, three more local centers were already visible.
At the beginning of the month, the huge storm began to dissipate. The surface of Mars has cooled enough so that the strong winds blowing on Mars now will moderate and the fine dust grains that were floating in the atmosphere will begin to sink.
It is possible that the "cleaning" of the atmosphere from the dust will cause additional heating of the Martian surface, and then new sandstorms will occur. The process will therefore repeat itself.
But this matter will become clear only in a few months - from the data of the telescope and the spacecraft, with the help of another spacecraft, 'Mars Odyssey' 2001 (Mars Odyssey), which will reach Mars this week. It needs braking by the planet's atmosphere to lower its orbit.
During storms, the Martian atmosphere is warmer, and therefore able to brake the spacecraft more effectively. In the current situation - it may be necessary to change the route.
