Aftermath of the Biggest Storm to Ever Hit Mars 

Designed for a lifespan of 90 sols (93 Earth days), Zhurong was active for 347 sols (356.5 days) after its deployment on Mars's surface. The rover became inactive on 20 May 2022 due to approaching sandstorms and Martian winter, pending its self-awakening with appropriate temperature and sunlight conditions. Zhurong never woke up from its hibernation. The rover was expected to wake in December 2022 as winter in the Martian northern hemisphere drew to a close and sunlight increased, but did not. NASA images showed the rover in the same position where it had entered its hibernation period, almost a year earlier.

Truly fascinating! If you live on Mars, this brings a whole new meaning to "overcast weather."

Yeah, not the dust storm from the Martian that destroyed the martian base, but certainly a factor in our future colonization missions. I never expected mars to have such a complex atmospheric system of winds, heat and dust, especially with how thin the air is. Thanks for another banger Astrum!

Mars is not a bad kid he is just lonely

The other major hazard with these dust storms is, well as Anakin would put it, "It's coarse, rough and it gets in everywhere." Much like lunar dust, the extremely fine-grain jagged electrostatic nature of the particles means that any materials we bring to and build there, from habitats to electronics to space suits will very quickly become saturated with the stuff, leading to abrasion and possibly short-outs of essential equipment. The fabric of space suits could also over time wear thin enough to rupture, which would not be great for astronauts. To top it all off, it's full of toxic perchlorates, and is EXTREMELY difficult to clean off of any surface. The dust on the moon already poses challenges for future missions. Just imagine that but whipping around the whole planet at storm-force speeds, saturating the entire atmosphere for months.

people seem to think that earth is the only planet with super complex mechanisms in it. i mean we have people dedicating their entire life to studying weather, geology, volcanology, tectonic plates, and we see other planets as just “The desert one” or “the cold one” or “the hot one”. it’s cool to see that earth isn’t the only one with super complex mechanisms that need to be explored more

Thank you for the considerate sponsor message placement. I'm happy to watch all the way to the end in gratitude for the uninterrupted content.

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids, In fact it's cold as hell.

Isn't it fascinating that planets (all large space objects really) experience such strange but consistent patterns on these massive scales? Could such a pattern or season like behavior have been a catalyst for life?

Jupiter is my favorite. It's sheer size and power amazes me. One of my favorite things that happened to Jupiter was when Shoemsker Levvy 9 hit it in '94 and the planet basically said "COME ON MAN!! THAT'S TOO EASY!!!" while that same comet probably would've sent Earth to the backrooms.

If you're a scifi fan you might enjoy Kim Stanley Robinson's trilogy Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars about the terraforming of the red planet. Lots of detail and a good read.

I appreciate you single handedly battling my bipolar and getting me to sleep every night, I've learned so much and my sleep is finally decently stable. You're pretty cool

I think I remember that the Mars atmosphere appears like it is fast-switching between two atmospheric systems, where the temperatures and pressures are vastly different. The global Mars duststorms are unstable under the current combination of gas pressures and radiation from the Sun, but it might have been a stable state in the past.

Should we ever get a decent amount of humans on its surface, I'm curious how simple things like walking and driving around would be a catalyst for (more of) these storms...

In the book of The Martian (which I highly recommend) Watney ran into a dust storm on the way to the escape ship which he only found out since the solar panels he took were very slowly losing efficiency. Kind of scary to see even very fine dust in a storm on Mars can very easily kill us...

It has only been a decade or so since NASA has admitted to re-coloring nearly every single photo from Mars. Only recently have they stopped (for the most part) with the "true" color images from Mars. This began with the very first images from the Viking lander. As the first color image was displayed on the monitors within 10 to 15 minutes the head of NASA instructed a technician to adjust all of the monitors in the room to make the images more red. This practice has gone on ever since.

Love your narration and love of knowledge Alex.

Man, I have habe not been suggested one of your videos in months. They are the best!!!!

Thanks for the video brother Alex

I guess dust storms would be an issue if we tried terraforming Mars. As the temperature went up, it would probably generate even longer lasting global dust storms.

Thank you for displaying what footage we are seeing.

Fascinating and so well presented. The graphics as well as the in situ are demonstrative. But who on earth would really want to live on Mars!!

learned something new! favorite video in a while!!!

I wonder if the 2-year gap between storms occurs because storms cover larger sand grains with smaller ones. If larger sand grains are needed to get smaller ones into the air, covering up the larger grains would inhibit dust storm formation.

Your videos are so captivating. Jupiter Eye Storm. So magical

Nice. I’m old enough to have watched humans first walk on the moon and I would love to still be alive to see humans walk on Mars (and get home safely)

Seems to me the difference between Mars, Earth, and Venus is life. The co2 and o2 provided by plants and microbes kept us from the extremes of the others. We truly are special and lucky to even exist.

Jupiter as a child, Earth now Mars bars sounds like the coolest way to find a finishline🏁🏁🍻😎

7:19 mars rover designers could put a broom in a robotic arm to sweep the dust from solar panels

Interesting to consider the consequences of the arrival of retro rockets and discarded heat shield on the pattern of dust disturbance. In an atmosphere this rarified pretty explosive. Microscopic silica particles are extremely abrasive and dangerous to electronics, respiratory systems, and everything from solar arrays to camera lenses. Frank Herbert's model of the alien desert world in Dune is made more scary by the native creatures but to my mind, even with a great potential for mining resources, Mars is not worth it.

Thinking of Martian settlers facing this reminds me of a favorite short story, "A Wind Is Rising", by Robert Sheckley.

I feel an easy work around for solar panels gathering dust would be a wiper blade type thing. Where it is on a motorized track with a small blade that sits in a recessed area while not being used. Then when needed just activate it and have it scrape the dust off the panels.

Thanks for the vids

Production quality of this video was breathtaking.

Giant Jupiter and it's moons are my Favorites after Earth of course. They can keep Mars, never knew what the attraction is. Your planetary portraits are beautiful.

I am sure that I am not the only person to think that there could be a blower system aboard a rover to clear dust from the panels. Tanks could hold air to power the operation, and a small compressor could operate when there is extra power to store air at a high pressure. Hoses and nozzles on the arm complete the system, along with some fixed nozzles in strategic locations.

It would be interesting to see a plot graph showing the surface & atmospheric temps, the average wind speed & average AOD value over the 5.5 year period leading up to these storms. If the amount of dust in the atmosphere is dependent on wind & heat, than there should be a correlation with all these factors right?

Fascinating, thank you!

All the martians underneath the surface laughing at humans trying to farm in the surface 😂

This dust storms were common on early earth, too, until plants conquered the non water parts of the planets, and starting to stop the storms in this scale.

Could the cycle be related to surface temperature? My thought is that the dust storms are being partially caused by the surface temperature increasing but as the storms grows eventually the temperature falls because the dust clouds block sunlight. Just a thought.

global storm season on mars seems to line up solar min/max so I wonder if there isn't some net charge effect working on it

Llove your videos you are entertaining and you explain things so even this rube can understand you make me feel smarter even if for a little while thanks Alex good day and good luck 😊

As the clouds thicken, temperature cycling forms small amounts of water near the surface. When the surface temp increases enough the Martian life can ascend from the caverns below to drink and mate. Then descend as the temperatures lower allowing the moisture evaporate & dust to hide the holes that were made by any activity. - Having a lander / rover capable of analysing atmos. during a storm will be enlightening.

Great work as always. Mine is Jupiter. When looking thru my telescope it just amazing.

I'd love to hear more sounds from Mars!

Hi Alex. I thought you stopped making videos. I am glad you are back.

If we ever colonies Mars, it would be wise to have a space station (or several) ion orbit. The colonists could plan launches up to the space stations before the superstorms begin and wait out the storms on board the stations. The space stations should grow in size as the population grows so that they are always big enough to fit the entire colony on board during the superstorms.

Maybe it takes 3 Martian years to sufficiently heat the surface up enough to cause the storms to form. Perhaps we're overthinking this. Is it possible it's that simple? It chokes itself out when the heat from the sun doesn't reach the surface for several weeks. If it reaches -207°F because no light reaches the surface it gets bone-chilling cold, so after the storm dies and the dust finally settles it only warms a little at a time because of day and night. Three years later temps are right for winds to ramp up again. Just a thought.

Which is why its already been agreed that any permeant colonisation of mars would involve structures being built in underground caves to protect against this thing.

Pluto is my favourite - New Horizons has totally sold me on it & it would be great to have a Pluto globe

@12:09. Curiosity and Perserverance are the only two rovers still operating on Mars. Zhurong went into hibernation in May of 2022.

Thanks, Alex! 🌪

Very interesting, had no clue about the storm cycle of Mars. Peace!

Could this be related to increased atmosphere density building up over the 5½ years, and shed during the swelling? There's dry ice in the soil and on the poles, could that drive it?

A1 video thanks.

This is utterly fascinating. I am a technician who also enjoys solo tramping living on borrowed time. I could quite happily spend the rest of my life being dumped on the Martian surface with a tool kit exploring the planet and fixing the odd broken rover I came across. It would be fascinating to wander and alien world and come across a piece of technology and get it working again. And I would love to climb Olympus Mons. Dreams are free. Favourite planet? Mine would be Mars because it is possible (with life support) to exist there, at least for a while and because there are no wars or politicians.

Could they build an onboard "umbrella" for dust? Basically, a wired balloon, built of a lightweight plastic. that can be opened from the top of the rover. Like an umbrella, it would open on a wired frame, then drop a tube of plastic, with a powered, retracting circular ring, like a ziptie but more flexible. Maybe the weight of plastic edger/trimmer line for lawns? A simple reversible motor could unwind and rewind the cable (monofilament one way, the heavier cable the other way).

"unable to call for help" - Well, calling for help wouldn't make much sense anyway, if it takes 7 months to get there.

sounds like a normal November in scotland

What I miss from discussions about colonising Mars is: due to its thin atmosphere (which we are unlikely to restore for obvious reasons), what about a sudden destruction of structures build for our protection, like a glass dome, by falling debris from the sky? Mars doesn't have an atmosphere that protects us from most of this debris on Earth. A lot of it burns in the atmosphere or is significantly reduced (and perhaps slowed down, I don't know) before it hits Earth.

The dust storms would make such a good backstory for tons of stories

My name is on board both Curiosity and Perseverance. ❤🙂

Alex, your narration is God-tier 😊

Truly remarkable!

Who knew Texas and mars had the same weather pattern with the temperature swings

Nice illustration of a tipping point.

I always figured the first step in colonising Mars would be robots digging a tunnel network that would protect most of the stuff.

I think of all the rovers on Mars that have sadly died or never got a chance to work and I immediately cheer myself up with the thought that one day we will collect them all up fix them and put them in museums where they belong!...cheers.

Another banger

Colonist on Mars might be able to supplement their electrical needs by having pedal powered generators and working mainly during night inside their habitats. Especially during dust storm season. Some pedal generators might go to LED lighting others to heating and various others to batteries and electrical equipment. If done in shifts and in an entertaining way like a game it might make it worth while. A prize/trophy system might help and a high score or goal based reward system. Plus might help to keep the people exercised and combat the effects of the lower gravity.

So basically Arrakhis

Isn't there a way to just clean the solar panels? Like a backup battery to power wipers that can clean the solar panels, or a way to retract them when the storm is brewing, using a battery to then reawaken and re-extend them once it fades

4:00 that is probably the most insane thing i have ever heard! 8500 meter tall dustnados! That is over 10 burj khalifas tall. 5:52 I wonder how warm the temperature gets on the inside of these dust storms. Would it be a little over 27, or more like a Jacuzzis temprtature.

Well done Astrum!

It strikes me that a bunch of dust in the air rubbing together could build up an electrical charge, particularly given the metallic content of most of Mars's dust. Is lightning a problem in those storms? Am I missing something?

7:10 I believe the author said he wrote that before they had more information on how impactful the wind would actually be on Mars. I could be wrong though.

Remind me again, what is the ways of stickyness? Adhesion, Cohesion and the 3rd?

I love this channel.

With the known dust storms on Mars... Why doesn't NASA use some sort of means to dust off the dust drom their solar panels?

I would be really interested to know at what depth geothermal energy could be practically accessed. Is there any way to scan the surface to find hot spots where the crust is thinner? Like the "Iceland" of mars?

What if the dust is sticking to the energy that is moving. Like when you have a magnet under a table and a paper clip on top of the table. When you move the magnet the paper clip moves. The wind and dust is what we see and it outlines the thing that is happening.

Would it be possible to equip rovers with a marquee like cover to protect them from the dust storms? Probably it could sense the wind picking up before there’s a full blown dust storm, right?

Kudos for debunking the dust storm in "The Martian."

13:01 My favourite planet is the one on screen at that moment (Saturn)!

Very good ❤

We martians left the planet because it got too hard and now we got this blue planet that we have to cherish.

Percy and Ginny have been a great team, but i'm afraid that means Percy may soon be without its little scout. that helicopter has to br so light weight to fly in the thin air, I imagine it doesn't take much dust to block its solar panels. on top of which it may be sensitive to mechanical interference from dust screwing up, aerodynamics, electronics, or even just adding too much weight.

Thank you for calling out the movie "The Martian". That was ridiculous. Also the end when he flew "like Ironman" with a simple hole in his suit.

What the Film is already over. Just started before 4 min.? Sh, i t hen have to watch again. 🚀🏴‍☠️

Earth is also my favorite planet. It's where all the people I care about live.

Mars has two moons but no ocean for the moons to go to work this is new information. But the thought of a super storm on Mars makes me rethink about moving to Mars. This is kind of cool and scary at the same time.

From the model we see white patches, is that ice? Can you dig there to build underground bases?

So if we can't use solar power, could we use wind turbines or geothermal energy? Or a combination of the two? And is it feasible to burrow into the ground or natural caves to make shelters and garden areas for habitation? I may read too much sci-fi...

If we wanted to live there we would have to create a atmosphere and that would cause rain and the dust would be to heavy to blow around I would assume

Something I've never understood about Martian rover designs; why don't they fit wipers on the solar panels?

Did Sanderson get the idea for his storms in the storm light archive from this I wonder?

There must be so much going on in the universe.

Sounds like some wind power would be a help during shut down periods…

Could a colony dig into the surface to use Geothermal energy to help sustain power, heat, and bio growth? I would think it would be also possible to build a setup that would be able to lower into the surface to prevent much of the dust from damaging equipment and help with keeping most of the weather at bay until the storms ran their course? Once the storms or any weather was over, the colony could be raised to the surface again. While under the surface, however, the idea of Nuclear energy would be a more viable power source than simple Geothermal but it would help. I am not a scientist but I was genuinely curious as to seeing if this was a possibility?