Martian Winds Carve Mountains, Move Dust, Raise Dust
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/martian-winds-carve-mountains-move-dust-raise-dust
On Mars, wind rules. Wind has been shaping the Red Planet's landscapes for billions of years and continues to do so today. Studies using
both a NASA orbiter and a rover reveal its effects on scales grand to tiny on the strangely structured landscapes within Gale Crater.
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, on the lower slope of Mount Sharp -- a layered mountain inside the crater -- has begun a second campaign of
investigating active sand dunes on the mountain's northwestern flank. The rover also has been observing whirlwinds carrying dust and
checking how far the wind moves grains of sand in a single day's time.
This pair of images shows effects of one Martian day of wind blowing sand underneath NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on a non-driving day for the rover.
Each image was taken just after sundown by the rover's downward-looking Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). The area of ground shown in the images spans
about 3 feet (about 1 meter) left-to-right.
The first image was taken on Jan. 23, 2017, during the 1,587th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. Figure A is this image with a scale
bar in centimeters. The second was taken on Jan. 24, 2017 (Sol 1588). The day-apart images by MARDI were taken as a part of investigation of wind's
effects during Martian summer, the windiest time of year in Gale Crater.
