- Jul 16, 2001
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The robot is currently in the Columbia Hills overlooking Gusev Crater, the vast plain where it landed 463 days ago.
Movies of dust-filled whirlwinds on Mars have been sent back by NASA's exploration rover, Spirit.
The Mars Global Surveyor orbiting probe has seen these 'dust devils' before, but Spirit's close-ups reveal much more detail about the miniature tornados. "This is the best look we've ever got of the wind effects on the martian surface as they are happening," says Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist from Texas A&M University, College Station, who is part of the rover team.
The robot is currently in the Columbia Hills overlooking Gusev Crater, the vast plain where it landed 463 days ago.
Movies of dust-filled whirlwinds on Mars have been sent back by NASA's exploration rover, Spirit.
The Mars Global Surveyor orbiting probe has seen these 'dust devils' before, but Spirit's close-ups reveal much more detail about the miniature tornados. "This is the best look we've ever got of the wind effects on the martian surface as they are happening," says Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist from Texas A&M University, College Station, who is part of the rover team.