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Tag Archives: atmosphere
MARCI weather report, March 4-10, 2019
Dust-lifting activity continued in localized regions in both the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars this past week. Looking to the ancient southern highlands, local-scale dust storms propagated eastward from Sirenum to Aonia. Southern Noachis Terra also encountered a few … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, clouds, dust, dust storms, haze, Malin Space Science Systems, MARCI, Mars Color Imager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, MSSS, NASA, storms, weather, wind
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MAVEN: High solar wind pressure hastens loss of atmosphere
New MAVEN research shows that high solar wind pressure influences Mars’ magnetic fields in ways that can increase the global loss of atmosphere to space. Planetary atmospheres are constantly bombarded by energy and radiation from the Sun, and over time … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, magnetic field, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, MAVEN, NASA, University of Colorado
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MAVEN: Aerobraking to lower the orbit
The MAVEN spacecraft today [March 7] performed an aerobraking maneuver (with a 0.2 m/s ∆V) to decrease the periapsis, or lowest, altitude by 1.2 km. MAVEN’s periapsis altitude is now 125.5 km above the surface of Mars and the apoapsis, … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged aerobraking, atmosphere, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, MAVEN, NASA, University of Colorado
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MARCI weather report, Feb 25-March 3, 2019
Last week on Mars, the southern highlands experienced an uptick in local-scale dust storm activity. Meanwhile, on the other side of the red planet, a mixture of dust storms and water ice clouds continued to propagate eastward along the seasonal … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, clouds, dust, dust storms, haze, Malin Space Science Systems, MARCI, Mars Color Imager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, MSSS, NASA, storms, weather, wind
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MARCI weather report, February 18-24, 2019
For the past week on Mars, dust storms and water ice clouds continued to crop up along the edge of the seasonal north polar ice cap. The plains of Amazonis, Chryse, and Utopia also experienced some local-scale dust lifting as … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, clouds, dust, dust storms, haze, Malin Space Science Systems, MARCI, Mars Color Imager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, MSSS, NASA, storms, weather, wind
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MARCI weather report, February 11-17, 2019
Martian weather patterns were fairly typical for this time of season, this past week. Local-scale dust storms pushed eastward along the margins of the seasonal north polar cap. A couple of these storms pushed southward across Acidalia near the beginning … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, clouds, dust, dust storms, global dust storms, haze, Malin Space Science Systems, MARCI, Mars Color Imager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, MSSS, NASA, storms, weather, wind
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MARCI weather report, February 4-10, 2019.
Dust storm activity was at a minimum across the tropics and southern highlands of Mars last week. Local storms were observed along the seasonal north polar cap edge, while the polar vortex showed a wave-2 type structure, typical this time … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, clouds, dust, dust storms, global dust storms, haze, Malin Space Science Systems, MARCI, Mars Color Imager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, MSSS, NASA, storms, weather, wind
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MAVEN: Shrinking its orbit to prepare for Mars 2020 rover
The 4-year-old atmosphere-sniffing MAVEN mission is embarking on a new campaign today to tighten its orbit around Mars. The operation will reduce the highest point of the MAVEN spacecraft’s elliptical orbit from 3,850 to 2,800 miles (6,200 to 4,500 kilometers) … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged aerobraking, atmosphere, M2020, Mars 2020, Mars 2020 rover, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, MAVEN, NASA, University of Colorado
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MARCI weather report, Jan 28-Feb 3, 2019
Conditions across Mars were similar to that of the previous week. Dust hazes remained present over many southern hemisphere regions. Looking to the northern hemisphere, a couple of dust storms associated with the north polar hood were observed north of … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, clouds, dust, dust storms, haze, Malin Space Science Systems, MARCI, Mars Color Imager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, MSSS, NASA, storms, weather, wind
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MARCI weather report, January 21-27, 2019
Elevated levels of atmospheric dust, remnants of a recently abated southern hemisphere regional storm, lingered over most of Mars this past week. At high southern latitudes, the perennial south polar ice cap had reached its minimum summer configuration. While in … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, clouds, dust, dust storms, haze, Malin Space Science Systems, MARCI, Mars Color Imager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, MSSS, NASA, storms, weather, wind
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