Dusty With a Chance of Dust
Explanation:
It's storm
season on Mars.
Dusty with a chance of dust is the weather report for Gale crater
as a recent planet-scale dust storm rages.
On June 10
looking toward the east-northeast crater rim, the
Curiosity rover's Mastcam captured this image of its local
conditions so far.
Meanwhile over 2,000 kilometers away, the Opportunity
rover ceased science operations as the storm grew thicker at its
location on the west rim of Endeavour crater,
and has stopped communicating,
waiting out the storm
for now.
Curiosity is
powered by
a radioisotope thermoelectric generator,
but the smaller Opportunity rover
uses solar panels to charge its batteries.
For Opportunity, the increasingly severe
lack
of sunlight has caused its batteries to run low.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
