The mobile vehicle “Persifranez” took the image of a “dust devil” suddenly appeared in a rare shot while taking a high -resolution selfie on Mars.
While NASA’s mobile vehicle stopped on May 10 to take a festive self -image, it escalated at a distance and across the scene surrounding the mobile cart, a twisted cloud of red dust, known as scientists as “Dust Dust”.
And “dust demons” are swirls of stormy winds full of dust, and arise from a strong superficial heating, where they are smaller and less severe than hurricanes, and they occur on Earth in most parts of the world, especially in deserts.
As for Mars, where the density of the atmosphere is only about 1%, it can rise to hundreds of meters, and remain transparent until you pick red dust.
More than one memorial image
This image commemorates the 1500th anniversary of the Red Planet Exploration, and the Martian day (Sol) is 24 hours and 39 minutes Earth, meaning that the period spent by the mobile vehicle at the time of the photo is equivalent to approximately 4 years and two months by evaluating the Earth since it landed on the surface of Mars in February 2021.
At this time, the vehicle was cut off more than 35 km, during which 37 rocky goals were dug, 26 basic samples collected, and sent to Earth unparalleled details about the Red Planet.
The importance of the image is not limited to the perpetuation of that amazing moment, as such a unique image gives an opportunity for scientists to watch the terrain and monitor mobile vehicle devices.
As for the operational point of view, each of these images is prepared as a safety examination, which helps the task teams to track dust on solar panels, verify any damage, and ensure the safety of cables and joints, according to Justin Maki, head of the mission of photography of the “Peresters Severanis” in the NASA Payment Laboratory Southern California, in a press statement.
How did the mobile vehicle do that?
This latest (selfie) image has been collected, which is the fifth image since the start of the mission, and it was taken by a major camera responsible for these mosaic images called “Watson”, (the topographic top -angle of operations and engineering), installed at the end of the robotic arm of the probe of about two meters.
The pictures were taken during the 6 -wheelwalate vehicle standing on a high part of the western edge of the Jesiro nozzle, known as the “Watch Hazel” hill, and this distinguished point has undergone the study of the scientific team over the past five months.
To obtain this selfie appearance, each of Watson must have a unique field of vision, and this translates into 62 accurate and arduous motions of the robotic arm and 62 overlapping frames, to complete this process that takes the entire time for about an hour, then collecting it together on the ground.
Dust demons on the surface of Mars give scientists evidence that the thin atmosphere consisting of carbon dioxide on the planet still carries amazing energy.
A promising mission for the Persevends vehicle
NASA has set a direct scientific target for the “Peresters Search” vehicle, which is to search for signs of an old life on Mars, and NASA hopes to restore the 26 samples that have been limited to Earth on a future mission.
Scientists on the ground will analyze these samples in search of molecular fossils, analogous evidence, and the history of minerals that the equipment on Mars cannot discover, and these samples may reveal together whether the microbes have flourished on the red planet.
The “Perseviranis” vehicle will explore a new interesting area, called “Crocodilin”, which may contain some of the oldest rocks on Mars, and this region was on the list of the scientific team of the mobile vehicle as it represents an important separation between the oldest rocks of the Jesiro nozzle and the plains rocks behind it.
Scientists expect that the interesting new area will contain the bottom slope of the edge of the Jesiro nozzle on some of the oldest rocks on the Red Planet.