NASA Martian rover recorded seasonal patterns

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover recorded seasonal patterns in Mars atmosphere. It recently completed its second Martian year observing two full cycles of environmental changes placed within Gale Crater roughly four Earth years ago. The study assists in separating sporadic changes from established patterns.

During the first southern-hemisphere autumn in Gale Crater, for instance, a large spike of methane was recorded but didn’t occur during the second autumn. Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California affirmed, “Curiosity’s weather station has made measurements nearly every hour of every day, more than 34 million so far.” 

Vasavada also said, “The duration is important because it is the second time through the seasons that lets us see repeated patterns.” This particular event is so far unexplained. But Rover captured slight shifts in methane concentrations, however, that may correlate with seasonal changes scientists speculate. 

Temperature, air pressure, ultraviolet light surface levels, and limited water vapor in Gale Crater’s air indicate cyclical seasonal patterns. Curiosity‘s Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) recorded air temperatures from 15.9 degrees Celsius on a summer afternoon dipping to 100 degrees Celsius on a winter night.

German Martinez from University of Michigan said, “Mars is much drier than our planet, and in particular Gale Crater, near the equator, is a very dry place on Mars.”

A Martian year equates to 687 Earth days. Curiosity was stationed on August 5, 2012 and May 11 of this year marked the rover’s third Martian year and the mission’s 1,337th Martian day, otherwise known as “sol.” A sol lasts roughly 39.6 minutes longer than an Earth day, and a Martian year equates to 668.6 sols, scientists said.

And relative humidity—an interplay of both temperature and water-vapor—on Mars reached up to 70 percent, prompting scientists to consider the formation of frost The Times of India reports.