NASA's Perseverance Rover Captures One Dust Devil Devouring Another 5m4v54 Technology News

NASA's Perseverance rover has captured footage of a rare Martian weather event—two dust devils colliding, with one appearing to eat the other. 73w2d

Written by Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 7 April 2025 22:01 IST

NASA's Perseverance Rover Captures One Dust Devil Devouring Another

Photo Credit: NASA JPL 3z3e4s

NASA's Viking orbiters and Pathfinder both captured images of Martian dust devils

Highlights

Perseverance filmed one Martian dust devil absorbing another
The event happened in Jezero Crater, known for extreme weather
The phenomenon could reshape our understanding of Martian winds

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spacecraft to picture Martian dust devils. Two decades later, the agency's Pathfinder mission was the first to image one from the surface, seeing a dust devil ing over the lander.

As per the latest report by NASA, the twin rovers successfully captured several dusty whirlwinds. Curiosity, which is exploring Mount Sharp in Gale Crater on the opposite side of the Red Planet from Perseverance, also notices them. Capturing a dust devil photograph or video from a spacecraft requires some luck. Scientists cannot anticipate when they will come, so they routinely monitor all directions for them. When scientists see that whirlwinds occur more frequently at a certain time of day or approach from a specific direction, they use that information to target their monitoring efforts to catch more of them.

What Are Dust Devils? 11l

A dust devil, also referred to as a dirt devil, is a powerful, well-formed whirlwind that lasts just a brief time. Its dimensions range from small (18 inches/half a meter wide and a few yards/meters tall) to gigantic (more than 30 feet/10 meters wide and more than half a mile/1 km tall). The major vertical motion is upward. Dust devils are normally harmless, but they can occasionally become large enough to endanger both humans and property.

NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Sends First Space Images Before Full Sky Survey

Scientific Significance 5q5639

“Dust devils play a significant role in Martian weather patterns,” said Katie Stack Morgan, project scientist for the Perseverance rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Dust devil study is important because these phenomena indicate atmospheric conditions, such as prevailing wind directions and speed, and are responsible for about half the dust in the Martian atmosphere.”

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