All these years, NASA scientists have laboriously sifted through spacecraft images, to identify and classify markings on Mars. Now they’re using a new “classifier,” powered by artificial intelligence. What takes a human 40 minutes takes the AI tool an average of just 5 seconds. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-artifical-intelligence-spots-craters-on-mars…
Tag: dust devils
Amazing photos in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter celebration
NASA has posted a sampling of some of the most awe-inspiring photos of Mars, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They are proof that Mars is a very photogenic world. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-photos-mars-reconnaissance-orbiter-15th-anniversary…
Will Dragonfly find dust devils on Titan?
Earth and Mars both are known to have swirling dust devils moving along their surfaces. Saturn’s large moon Titan might have them, too, according to a new study. If so, NASA’s planned Dragonfly mission will be able to find them. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/saturn-moon-titan-dust-devils-dragonfly…
Dust devils may roam hydrocarbon dunes on Saturn’s moon Titan
Meteorological conditions on Saturn’s large moon Titan, the strange, distant world that may be the most Earth-like in the solar system, appear conducive to the formation of dust devils, according to new research in AGU’s journal Geophysical Research Letters. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-04-devils-roam-hydrocarbon-dunes-saturn.html…
A year of surprising science from NASA’s InSight Mars mission
A new understanding of Mars is beginning to emerge, thanks to the first year of NASA’s InSight lander mission. Findings described in a set of six papers published today reveal a planet alive with quakes, dust devils and strange magnetic pulses. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-02-year-science-nasa-insight-mars.html…
InSight detects gravity waves, low rumbles and devilish dust
More than a year after NASA’s Mars InSight lander touched down in a pebble-filled crater on the Martian equator, the rusty red planet is now serving up its meteorological secrets: Gravity waves, surface swirling “dust devils,” and the steady, low rumble of infrasound, Cornell and other researchers have found. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-02-insight-gravity-rumbles-devilish.html…
First Active Fault Zone Found on Mars
Rumbling quakes on the red planet have been traced back to Cerberus Fossae, suggesting this geologically young region is still alive and cracking. From a report: Millions of miles away, a robot geologist stands alone on the dusty surface of Mars, listening for faint seismic echoes in the ground below. Its finger on the red planet’s pulse is sensitive enough to…
Scientists use drones to probe earthly dust devils, with an eye toward Mars
Dust devils are common are common on Earth, but ubiquitous on Mars, a desert world. Scientists are using drones carrying cameras and other instruments to gain new insights. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/scientists-use-drones-dust-devils-earth-mars…
Drones probe terrestrial dust devils to better understand the atmosphere of Mars
Dust devils, small dusty whirlwinds, have been studied for decades. But, says Brian Jackson, an associate professor in the Department of Physics at Boise State University, the ability of dust devils to lift dust into the atmosphere remains murky. “When we compare theoretical predictions of how much dust a devil should lift to how much it does lift, the numbers just…
What Mars’ giant dust storm taught us
Before we send people to Mars, we need to understand more about how Martian dust could affect astronauts and their equipment. Here are 3 things we’ve learned from the planet’s 2018 global dust storm. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/understanding-mars-dust-storms…