The Storm, Dust storm of 2007 |
The Storm, Dust storm of 2007 |
Jul 6 2007, 12:24 PM
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#31
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Member Group: Members Posts: 136 Joined: 13-October 05 From: Malibu, CA Member No.: 527 |
There is an interesting article about dust storms on the hubble-site HERE - that foretells a possible second following storm. (Hope not!)
Here's the relevant excerpt: After three months, the storm is beginning to wane. The planet's shrouded surface has cooled, and this allowed the winds to die down and the fine dust to begin settling. However, Mars is approaching the closest point of its orbit to the Sun. Once the atmosphere begins to clear, the return of unfiltered solar radiation may trigger additional high winds and kick up the dust all over again. This one-two punch has been seen in previous Mars storms for centuries. The article is old - but could multiple storms be caused, or have been caused in this fashion with this episode? |
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Jul 6 2007, 01:03 PM
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#32
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Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
Multiple major storms do happen in some years - the Vikings saw two in 1977 for example.
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Jul 6 2007, 01:54 PM
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#33
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3431 Joined: 11-August 04 From: USA Member No.: 98 |
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Jul 6 2007, 01:57 PM
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#34
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
Speaking of Hubble, it will look at Mars near the end of this month to help with MARCI's calibration woes, but in the process, it may catch the aftermath of this.
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Guest_Analyst_* |
Jul 6 2007, 02:07 PM
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#35
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Guests |
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Jul 6 2007, 02:24 PM
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#36
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
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Jul 6 2007, 02:37 PM
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#37
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Member Group: Members Posts: 133 Joined: 3-June 06 From: the jungle of Nool Member No.: 799 |
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Jul 6 2007, 05:17 PM
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#38
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Member Group: Members Posts: 100 Joined: 20-May 06 Member No.: 780 |
Just got some feedback that Sol 1225 Tau is 4.125. Oppy is at 255Whr. Does anyone know what Oppy's power reserves were before the storm got bad? I assume she can withstand some days of low power input, if the batteries were well-charged before the Tau got so high. She doesn't have to survive a whole martian winter on low power.... Hopefully just a few days. |
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Jul 6 2007, 06:07 PM
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#39
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
I'm actually a little more worried about Spirit than I am about Oppy. This dust is all still entrained in the atmosphere, it hasn't really started to fall out yet. I don't know why, but I have this gut feeling that Meridiani may collect less dust from this storm than Gusev eventually will. Maybe because there is less overall dust accumulation on the ground at Meridiani than there is at Gusev; it just feels like Meridiani doesn't collect dust as effectively as Gusev does. (Maybe Gusev's crater rim causes a large-scale swirl in the winds that tends to make dust collect within, while the lack of any such circulation patterns at Meridiani keeps it from getting dumped on nearly as much.)
I guess I'm thinking that the dust ought to have specific patterns of fallout, based on when in the year the storms occur and what the wind patterns are like at the time. It also may have something to do with your distance from where the storms start and how they grow. It just feels like, since Oppy was closer to this storm as it formed, it may actually get away with having less of the dust dumped on it than other places on the planet -- perhaps even halfway across the globe. Also, rather obviously, the polar caps display a process in which dust is often sandwiched between layers of dry ice. It may well be that a majority of the dust pulled up during these major storms ends up being deposited at the fall/winter pole, to which the air is flowing and where the air is precipitating out and plating itself onto the ground. That would tend to make sense from a global circulation pattern perspective. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Jul 7 2007, 12:26 AM
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#40
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Member Group: Members Posts: 470 Joined: 24-March 04 From: Finland Member No.: 63 |
Some new information in this National Geographic article.
Jacob Matijevic is confident of rover survival. -------------------- Antti Kuosmanen
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Jul 7 2007, 12:41 AM
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#41
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Member Group: Members Posts: 100 Joined: 20-January 06 Member No.: 652 |
Jake seems confident;
best rover news I've heard in a couple of days! -------------------- |
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Jul 7 2007, 01:45 AM
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#42
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3431 Joined: 11-August 04 From: USA Member No.: 98 |
A handful of sol 1226 images are online. Just solar-filter images so far.
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Jul 7 2007, 05:02 AM
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#43
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Member Group: Members Posts: 258 Joined: 22-December 06 Member No.: 1503 |
Sol 1226...look how clean the rover looks!
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...R9P1962R0M1.JPG |
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Jul 7 2007, 06:40 AM
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#44
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2228 Joined: 1-December 04 From: Marble Falls, Texas, USA Member No.: 116 |
She looked very clean, but that image should be from sol 1223. I suspect she is still pretty clean, despite the dust storm.
It's nice to hear that somewhat positive news from national geographic. I can't help but wonder if this would have been more of a survivability issue for the rovers if they hadn't been cleaned by the earlier winds. I also can't help but wonder if such early, cleaning winds might be expected prior to a dust storm. -------------------- ...Tom
I'm not a Space Fan, I'm a Space Exploration Enthusiast. |
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Guest_Sunspot_* |
Jul 7 2007, 07:36 AM
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#45
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Guests |
www.spaceweather.com reports the storm has intensified and grown.
QUOTE MARS UPDATE: A late-June dust storm that delayed Mars rover Opportunity's descent into Victoria Crater has intensified and spread around the planet, reports veteran observer Jim Melka of St. Louis, Missouri. On July 6th, the view through Melkin's 12-inch telescope showed "a chain of five dust clouds over Mare Cimmerium," he says. "One cloud is very close to the location of the Opportunity's twin, Spirit." Stay tuned for updates.
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