Mars Dust Devils 'Eat' One Another As Perseverance Rover Watches

Space.com

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover saw two dust devils swirl across the surface of the Red Planet before joining together as one.  Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS/INTA-CSIC/Space Science Institute/ISAE-Supaero/University of Arizona

Transcript

00:00We often see dust devils in the desert, but this one happened on Mars.

00:04NASA's Perseverance rover captured an incredible new video and I'm gonna tell you all about it.

00:13Perseverance was exploring the rim of Jezero Crater when it spotted these twisters.

00:18The big one is 210 feet wide. That's like the wingspan of a large airliner.

00:24But if you were standing there, not to worry. The Martian atmosphere is so thin

00:28that it would feel like a gust of wind. Though you'd get pretty dirty.

00:33Scientists are fascinated by dust devils on Mars. By studying these,

00:37we better understand wind patterns and surface atmosphere interactions.

00:41Dust devils also tell us how dust lifting affects the planet's atmosphere and climate over time.

00:47Perseverance was also first to capture an audio recording of a dust devil on Mars.

00:52We've even observed this phenomenon from space. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a dust

01:01devil that was estimated to be 12 miles high. That's above the length of Manhattan.

01:08We've also captured the tracks these dust devils leave behind. These can tell us about the direction

01:13dust devils traveled. Every time we spot a dust devil, it helps us refine our climate models of Mars.

01:20MEANTico

01:3224 lamp

01:3324 plano

01:3425 stronger

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