Mars Report: July 2018

A dust storm continues to envelop the Red Planet and Curiosity's labs are back in action. For information on all our Mars missions: https://mars.nasa.gov


TRANSCRIPT

Opportunity Rover
NASA's Opportunity Rover is weathering a massive global dust storm. Less sunlight means the solar-powered rover can't generate power. The rover entered "sleep mode" to conserve energy. Mission planners hope to hear from it once the dust settles.

Curiosity Rover
On the other side of Mars, Curiosity is faring better in the storm. Curiosity sent back images showing intensifying dust at its location near Gale Crater. Before and after images show the difference since the storm began. Curiosity gets power from a nuclear battery, so the lack of sunlight is not a problem. Before the storm, Curiosity delivered new rock samples to its on-board laboratories.

Mars Orbiters
Mars dust storms like this one occur every 6 to 8 Earth years. NASA's fleet of Mars orbiters are observing and studying the storm. The data will help the rover teams and scientists understand these storms better.

Tonight, go outside and look at Mars! Through July Mars will make its closest approach to Earth in 15 years.

Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech