Hope spotted “discernible alterations on the surface” after the January 2022 event.
New footage from Mars shows Red Planet dust reservoirs can send out huge clouds of material in a short time.
The Hope mission from the United Arab Emirates captured Mars images before and after a dust storm that show “discernible alterations on the surface,” officials with the Hope mission wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday (Dec. 29), alongside an animation.
The spacecraft plotted changes in surface dust thickness following a regional dust storm in 2022, in part using infrared spectrometer observations that can look at heat signatures on the surface of Mars, according to a paper based on the results published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets in October.
The United Arab Emirates’ Hope mission orbits Mars on a elliptical orbit that provides the spacecraft with unique views. (Image credit: NYU Abu Dhabi)
