Martian Dust Devil Over A Mile Tall Captured On Camera By NASA Rover

As if the first people to colonize Mars won’t have enough problems (like possibly having to use their own blood to create concrete), NASA’s Perseverance rover has found another one: towering dust devils.

Here on Earth, dust devils are generally much smaller and less intense than tornadoes. The National Weather Service states they have an average height of approximately 500 to 1000 feet.

However, they can reach heights of several thousand feet and reach wind speeds of 60 miles per hour or more.

The key to a dust devil forming is, of course, the presence of dust. Which is why dust devils of that size are typically only seen in states in the Southwestern United States.

Mars, on the other hand, is nothing but dust.

Which is why on August 30th, one of the Navcams on NASA’s Perseverance rover was able to capture video of the lower portion of a Martian dust devil.

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Using data from the footage, NASA mission scientists determined that the dust devil was about 2.5 miles away from the rover moving east to west at about 12 mph at a location nicknamed “Thorofare Ridge.”

They also determined that it was about 200 feet wide and over a mile in height.

Much weaker and generally smaller than Earth’s tornadoes, dust devils are one of the mechanisms that move and redistribute dust around Mars. Scientists study them to better understand the Martian atmosphere and improve their weather models.

“We don’t see the top of the dust devil, but the shadow it throws gives us a good indication of its height,” said Mark Lemmon, a planetary scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and a member of the Perseverance science team. “Most are vertical columns. If this dust devil were configured that way, its shadow would indicate it is about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) in height.”

Dust devils, which occur on Earth as well, form when rising cells of warm air mix with descending columns of cooler air. The Martian versions can grow to be much larger than those found on Earth.

Last year, Perseverence captured footage of not just one, but three Martian dust devils all moving across the ground at the same time.