If this dust devil were configured that way, its shadow would indicate it is about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) in height. ![]() The rover body thus keeps the rovers vital organs protected. Like a car body, the rover body is a strong, outer layer that protects the rovers computer and electronics (which are basically the equivalent of the rovers brains and heart). ![]() “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. The Perseverance rovers body is called the warm electronics box, or 'WEB' for short. And while only the bottom 387 feet (118 meters) of the swirling vortex are visible in the camera frame, the scientists could also estimate its full height. They calculated its width to be about 200 feet (60 meters). Using data from the imagery, mission scientists determined that this particular dust devil was about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away, at a location nicknamed “Thorofare Ridge,” and moving east to west at about 12 mph (19 kph). Scientists study them to better understand the Martian atmosphere and improve their weather models. Much weaker and generally smaller than Earth’s tornadoes, dust devils are one of the mechanisms that move and redistribute dust around Mars. Get the latest news releases about the Perseverance rover mission. ![]() The video, which was sped up 20 times, is composed of 21 frames taken four seconds apart by one of the rover’s Navcams. This site is maintained by the Mars Communications Team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Perseverance is now beginning to ramp up its science mission on Mars while preparing to collect samples that will be returned to Earth on a future mission. 30, 2023, the 899th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. NASAs Perseverance rover has been on the surface of Mars since February of 2021, joining NASAs Curiosity rover, which has been studying the Red Planet since 2012. The lower portion of a Martian dust devil was captured moving along the western rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater by NASA’s Perseverance rover on Aug.
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