Mars was already caught up in a massive dust storm which also affected NASA’s Opportunity rover on the planet. Now, just as per scientists’ expectations, the storm has grown so intense that it has covered the entire planet.
Since the last two weeks, Mars has been battling a massive dust storm which has even turned the skies black. The storm, affecting NASA’s Opportunity rover powered by the sun, forced the space agency to suspend its science operations since the storm darkened the skies so much that the sun itself has disappeared. Now the storm has grown global and has engulfed the entire planet as well.
The dust storm grew in size and is officially a ‘planet-encircling’ or ‘global’ dust event, as per Bruce Cantor, deputy principal investigator of the Mars Color Imager camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which first detected the Martian dust storm on May 30.
NASA’s Mars rover stuck in massive deadly dust storm
NASA officials informed that the Mars atmosphere is so thick with dust, ‘accurate measurements are no longer possible for Mars’ oldest active rover.’ “The current dust storm is more diffuse and patchy; it’s anyone’s guess how it will further develop, but it shows no sign of clearing.”
However, as a good news, NASA reports that the storm is unlikely to greatly affect its another Curiosity rover that has been studying the Red Planet. This is because the Opportunity rover is powered by sunlight, which is currently unavailable due to the storm whereas, the Curiosity rover has a nuclear-powered battery that runs 24/7.
However, the dust storm is affecting Curiosity rover in a way that the dim lighting is leading to the rover’s cameras to require extra exposure time, which means the optical equipment is more weak to all the dust that’s blowing around.
The recent pictures the Curiosity rover managed to take, however, showed that the storm is an increasingly dense wall of haze, about eight times thicker than usual. NASA currently has little idea regarding the exact time when this storm will calm down.