NASA Debuts First Weather Report From Mars… Will There Be Central Heaters There?
Image via NASA
While you may have just seen the first color image of Mars captured by NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter, the Perseverance rover it was attached to has now produced the first weather report from the Red Planet.
Using the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) system aboard the rover, engineers received initial weather data from the Jezero Crater on Mars.
Data showed it was below minus four degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius) on the surface, but plummeted to minus 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 25.6 degrees Celsius) within a span of just 30 minutes.
According to CNET, the system continued recording data after the first weather report. It has logged temperatures as low as minus 117.4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 83 degree Celsius) with a wind speed of up to 22 mph (10 meters per second).
As per NASA, MEDA will provide information on temperature cycles, heat fluxes, and dust cycles over the next year. It’ll even be able to take readings of radiation intensity, cloud formations, and local winds.
NASA hopes the data gathered by MEDIA will “help prepare for human exploration” in the coming future, says Manuel de la Torre Juárez, deputy principal investigator for MEDA at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
One thing’s for sure – you'll need to don a really large coat before heading to Mars.
[via CNET and NASA, cover image via NASA]
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