MARCI weather report, August 26-27, 2019 (original) (raw)

Weather patterns were fairly typical last week for this time of Mars year. In the north, local-scale dust storms were spotted along seasonal north polar cap edge. Diffuse water-ice clouds associated with the aphelion cloud-belt continued to be more dominant over the mid-to-low latitudes each afternoon. Both the Curiosity Rover in Gale Crater and the InSight lander on Elysium Planitia had storm-free afternoon skies all week.

Mars is currently in conjunction, which means that the red planet is on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth. This makes it difficult to send and receive signals from Mars. Although MARCI data will still be taken during conjunction, it will not be transmitted back to Earth for several weeks. This is the last MARCI weather report until then, so stay tuned, and check back in late September for new reports. [More at link, including video]

This entry was posted in Reports and tagged atmosphere, clouds, dust, dust storms, haze, Malin Space Science Systems, MARCI, Mars Color Imager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, MSSS, NASA, storms, weather, wind. Bookmark the permalink.