NASA's Curiosity rover captures images of Martian dust storm
Washington, June 21 : With NASA engineers yet to make contact with the Opportunity Mars rover due to a massive storm on the Red Planet, scientists are pinning their hopes on learning more about Martian dust storms from images captured by the Curiosity probe.
As of Tuesday morning, the Martian dust storm had grown in size and was officially a "planet-encircling" (or "global") dust event, NASA said in a statement on Wednesday.
Though Curiosity is on the other side of Mars from Opportunity, dust has steadily increased over it, more than doubling over the weekend, NASA said.
The US space agency said the Curiosity Rover this month used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to snap photos of the intensifying haziness of the surface of Mars caused by the massive dust storm.
For NASA's human scientists watching from the ground, Curiosity offers an unprecedented window to answer some questions. One of the biggest: Why do some Martian dust storms last for months and grow massive, while others stay small and last only a week?
"We don't have any good idea," said Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Curiosity, he pointed out, plus a fleet of spacecraft in the orbit of Mars, will allow scientists for the first time to collect a wealth of dust information both from the surface and from space.
The last storm of global magnitude that enveloped Mars was in 2007, five years before Curiosity landed there.
The current storm has starkly increased dust at Gale Crater, where the Curiosity rover is studying the storm's effects from the surface.
But it poses little risk to the Curiosity rover, said Curiosity's engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
However, there was still no signal from the Opportunity rover, although a recent analysis of the rover's long-term survivability in Mars' extreme cold suggests Opportunity's electronics and batteries can stay warm enough to function.
Regardless, the project does not expect to hear from Opportunity until the skies begin to clear over the rover.
The dust storm is comparable in scale to a similar storm observed by Viking I in 1977, but not as big as the 2007 storm that Opportunity previously weathered.
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Devine’s all-round brilliance trumps Nandini’s hat-trick as GG edge DC by 4 runs
Navi Mumbai (PTI): Nandini Sharma’s maiden hat-trick went in vain as Sophie Devine starred with a breathtaking 95 and a superb final over under pressure to steer Gujarat Giants to a thrilling four-run win off the last ball over Delhi Capitals in a Women’s Premier League match here on Sunday.
This was Gujarat Giants' second win on the trot, while DC slipped to their second loss.
Sent in to bat, Giants opener Devine smashed seven fours and eight sixes in her 42-ball knock, adding 94 runs for the opening wicket with Beth Mooney (19) to set the platform.
Skipper Ashleigh Gardner kept the momentum going with a brisk 49 off 26 balls, but Nandini turned the tide with remarkable figures of 5 for 33, including a hat-trick, as Gujarat were bowled out for 209.
Chasing a stiff target, opener Lizelle Lee struck a scintillating 86 off 54 balls, studded with 12 fours and three sixes. She put on 41 runs with Shafali Verma (14) before adding 90 off 55 balls with Laura Wolvaardt (77 off 38) to keep Delhi firmly in the hunt.
Once Lee was dismissed by Kashvee Gautam (1/48) in the 15th over, Rajeshwari Gayakwad removed Chinelle Henry (7) to leave Delhi at 146 for three.
Needing 64 off the last 25 balls, skipper Jemimah Rodrigues (15) joined Wolvaardt as the pair plundered 58 runs in 23 balls to bring the equation down to seven off the final five deliveries.
Devine then returned to the spotlight, dismissing both batters and conceding just two runs in the final over to seal a dramatic win.
Earlier, Devine set the tone early, striking three fours off Chinelle Henry before taking Nandini apart with two fours and a six in the fourth over. She was particularly severe on Sneh Rana, hammering two fours and four successive sixes in an over that yielded 32 runs and powered Gujarat Giants to 80 without loss in the powerplay.
The New Zealander brought up her half-century in just 25 balls before Shree Charani broke the opening stand with a sharp caught-and-bowled effort in the ninth over to remove Mooney. Devine briefly regained control, hitting Charani for three sixes, but fell in the 11th over bowled by Nandini Sharma.
Skipper Ashleigh Gardner kept Gujarat Giants on course with a brisk 49 off 26 balls, smashing four boundaries and three sixes to take the side past the 200-mark.
Jemimah Rodrigues pulled off a fine catch to dismiss Georgia Wareham (3), while Henry removed Gardner and Bharti Fulmali (3).
Nandini then capped a memorable outing by picking up four wickets in the final over, including three off the last three balls, to complete her maiden hat-trick.
