NASA: Mega Dust Storms Could Have Blown Away Some of Mars' Ancient Water - Geek

Giant dust storms on Mars, including the one that put NASA’s Opportunity rover out of commission and blocked sunlight for weeks, may have blown away some of the Red Planet’s ancient water, according to NASA researchers.

Following the incident, scientists worldwide are analyzing insights on how mega dust storms could have impacted ancient Martian water, climate, and winds, and how they could affect future solar power and weather, said a NASA press release. Observations on the 2018 dust storm, which were published in Geophysical Research Letters, revealed key details on Mars’ water sources, including lakes, rivers, and oceans the planet had billions of years ago and why water might have disappeared there.

According to Geronimo Villanueva, a Martian water expert at NASA Goddard, the global dust storm could give an explanation on why some of Mars’ water supply has mysteriously blown away. Villanueva worked with some European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos space agency colleagues and they found that powerful, global dust storms appear to loft water vapor from an altitude of 12 miles above the Red Planet’s surface to higher elevations of at least 50 miles. Global dust storms, which thrust water into the upper atmosphere, could interfere with Mars’ water cycle and prevent water from condensing and falling back down to the surface.

On Mars, some dust storms can be massive — encircling the planet for months!

Our robotic explorers observed one of these global storms last year. We’re using data they captured to understand ancient Mars and to help protect future human explorers. More: https://t.co/M9YDUmqRQD pic.twitter.com/7hi3d6k419

— NASA (@NASA) May 5, 2019

Villanueva and his colleagues speculate that at higher altitudes, solar radiation may easily force its way through to break up water molecules and blow their component elements into space. “When you bring water to higher parts of the atmosphere, it gets blown away so much easier,” Villanueva said in the press release.

You’re a survivor, you’re not gonna give up.

Hang in there, Oppy! Here’s how the @MarsRovers team will try to reach her now that this dust storm is starting to calm down: https://t.co/BwDJI5PYSL pic.twitter.com/LBMvIxAggh

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 17, 2018

On April 10, Villanueva and his colleagues published research in Nature, and explained how they discovered evidence of receding water vapor by leveraging the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter at the Red Planet, a spacecraft managed by ESA and Roscosmos. This orbiter measured water molecules at different heights before and after last year’s storm. For the first time, the scientists observed that all types of water molecules had reached the “escape region” of the upper atmosphere, which provided important clues into how water might be vanishing from Mars.

Villanueva​ said the scientists will have to consider this new information for their predictions on how much water flowed on Mars in the past and how much time it took for it to disappear.

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