Scientists Successfully Predict Weather On Mars, This Is The Goal

Scientists managed to solve the big problem of how to make a weather forecast for Mars. (photo credit: Christian Lischka / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Scientists at Yale University, Connecticut, United States (US) managed to predict the weather on Mars. Indeed, Planet Mars in the next few years will be a destination for human exploration. Therefore, various trials have been carried out, such as landing the rover robot first.

However, the challenges do not stop there, the most difficult thing to predict is the nature of the weather on Mars. With a large dust storm that will alter the temperature and density of the atmosphere, it is very difficult to predict exactly what conditions to expect when a plane lands on the planet.

To help solve that problem, scientists have solved the big problem of how to make a Martian weather forecast. They started by modeling the weather on Mars based on information about Earth's jet streams.

“I believe the first accurate forecast maybe a few days on Mars just a decade away. It is simply a matter of combining a better set of observational data with a sufficiently refined numerical model. But until then, we can rely on the relationship between climate and weather to help anticipate dust storms", said lead author J. Michael Battalio.

Battalio and his colleagues saw similarities between the eddies in Earth's atmosphere created by jet streams and conditions in Mars' southern hemisphere.

So they used modeling to investigate Mars' annual weather patterns, which can include events from small dust storms to large global dust storms.

These dust conditions can cause a lot of problems for missions, especially for missions that rely on solar power, as dust can cover and block the solar panels.

"Understanding and predicting these events is critical for the safety of missions, especially those that rely on solar power, but also for all missions as they land on the surface," Battalio said.

"During a larger storm, the dust can sometimes become so thick that it makes the day seem as dark as midnight. Even without a major and dramatic event, regional storms are a periodic feature".

For the record, dust storms on Mars can cause the Opportunity rover to malfunction and eventually shut down, as can the InSight lander which recently had to hibernate to conserve power during winter when sunlight is at its weakest.