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Tag Archives: dust
Gale’s winds sculpted the Mt. Sharp mound as they built it
The major reason for sending the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity to Gale Crater is the five-kilometer (three-mile) high layered mound, dubbed Mt. Sharp, that looms at the crater’s center. The lowest layers have been altered by water and perhaps … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, climate change, Curiosity, dust, eolian, Gale Crater, katabatic winds, LPSC 2013, Mars Science Laboratory, Mount Sharp, wind, wind erosion
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Dust drifts: new windblown feature on Mars?
Mars has ample loose material blowing around on its surface, a fact which has been known and studied for decades and more. However scientists have paid little attention to sedimentary deposits of dust. New work using detailed images from the … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged dunes, dust, eolian, HiRISE, LPSC 2013, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MER, wind
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Hurtling moon casts no cooling shadow
Total solar eclipses on Earth take hours to unfold, even if totality — the brief time when all the Sun is covered — lasts just a few minutes. Almost everyone who stands in the path of a solar eclipse notes … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, Deimos, dust, Mars Odyssey, Phobos, solar eclipses, THEMIS, thermal inertia, transits
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Did ice and dust make layered deposits in Valles Marineris?
Vast mounds of layered material lie in numerous places throughout the giant canyon system of Valles Marineris, and especially in Candor Chasma, Ophir Chasma, and Melas Chasma. The origin of these “interior layered deposits” (ILDs) have been debated since they … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, Candor Chasma, clay minerals, climate change, dust, ice, ILDs, interior layered deposits, Melas Chasma, Ophir Chasma, sulfates, Valles Marineris
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Big pile in Gale Crater
Gale Crater, the landing site for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover (named Curiosity), contains a 5-kilometer (3-mile) high stack of sediments that was the reason for sending the the rover there. How did the giant mound form? Dirty snow and … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged climate change, Curiosity, dust, Gale Crater, ice, LPSC 2012, Mars Science Laboratory, MSL, rover
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Ice cap winds spread polar gypsum
The north polar cap of Mars is surrounded by a vast dune field, about as large as Earth’s Kalahari Desert, that contains extensive deposits of gypsum. The gypsum’s origin has been debated since the mineral was discovered in 2005, yet … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged basal unit, climate change, CRISM, dunes, dust, gypsum, ice cap, katabatic winds, north polar ice cap, OMEGA, polar layered deposits, wind
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More dust devilry in the air
Dust devils are the most dynamic feature on Mars, and scientists are zeroing in on how they work. An earlier Red Planet Report described dust devil motions as mapped by fortuitous simultaneous observations by cameras on two separate spacecraft. Now, … Continue reading
Polar gullies erode from carbon dioxide flows
Gullies on Martian slopes form by flowing water, most probably trickles of snowmelt or groundwater. But what about the gullies found in places such as the high latitudes and polar regions where temperatures never rise above the freezing point for … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged CO2 ice, dust, frost, gullies, polar regions, sediments, water
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Airblast avalanches
The aerial blast wave from a meteorite impact can trigger dust avalanches in the vicinity, says a new paper published in Icarus. A group of scientists led by Kaylan Burleigh (University of Arizona) reached this conclusion after studying a cluster … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged airblast, craters, dust, dust avalanches, HiRISE, impacts, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Medusae Fossae formation, meteorites, slope streaks
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Devilry in the air
With all the spacecraft orbiting Mars, it’s slightly surprising that there aren’t more observations of dust devils shared by two or more instruments. Writing in the September 2011 issue of Icarus, a team of scientists led by Dennis Reiss (Westfälische … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, Claritas Fossae, dust, dust devils, HRSC, Mars Express, Mars Global Surveyor, MOC, Syria Planum, wind
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