Martian regolith - Wikipedia
Mars is covered with vast expanses of sand and dust and its surface is littered with rocks and boulders. The dust is occasionally picked up in vast planet-wide dust storms. Mars dust is very fine, and enough remains suspended in the atmosphere to give the sky a reddish hue.
The Fact and Fiction of Martian Dust Storms - NASA
Sep 18, 2015 · Andy Weir’s “The Martian” begins with a massive dust storm that strands fictional astronaut Mark Watney on Mars. In the scene, powerful wind rips an antenna out of a piece of equipment and destroys parts of the astronauts’ camp. Mars is infamous for intense dust storms, which sometimes kick up enough dust to be seen by telescopes on Earth.
Curious Martian dunes explained | Stanford Report
On Earth and Mars alike, windblown sand grains pile up into mounds of different shapes and sizes, ranging from dunes that extend for miles to tiny ridges barely high enough to hide a hermit crab.
Where Does the Sand Come From? - NASA
Oct 10, 2017 · The grains of sand that make up sand dunes on Earth and Mars have a hazardous existence because of the way that they travel. Wind-blown sand is lifted above the surface of each planet before crashing onto the ground and bouncing in a sequence of repeated hops, a process called saltation.
NASA Orbiter Catches Mars Sand Dunes In Motion - NASA
Jun 6, 2013 · WASHINGTON – Images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations and shifting up to several yards. These observations reveal the planet’s sandy surface is more dynamic than previously thought.
Strange circular dunes on Mars spotted in these NASA photos
Mar 9, 2023 · A new image shows near-perfect circular sand dunes on the surface of Mars taken as part of a program to see how frost melts on the Red Planet in late winter.
How the shapes of martian sand dunes reveal the planet’s winds
Nov 14, 2023 · Scientists have devised a new way to study winds on Mars by examining sand dunes on the planet’s surface. The resulting wind map could help explain recent changes in the martian climate and...
A distinct ripple-formation regime on Mars revealed by the
Nov 22, 2022 · Sand mobilized by wind forms decimeter-scale impact ripples and decameter-scale or larger dunes on Earth and Mars. In addition to those two bedform scales, orbital and in situ images revealed a...
Rover reveals puzzling sand dunes on Mars | Science | AAAS
Mar 30, 2016 · Investigators with NASA's Curiosity rover are exploring the planet's dark sand dunes and have discovered structures thought to be unlike any on Earth: ripples spaced about 3 meters apart, intermediate in size between the little ripples and big dunes found on both planets.
Mars’ Shifting Sands - Science@NASA
Feb 27, 2008 · Composed primarily of basaltic sand, the dunes will appear dark during the northern hemisphere summer. The dark spots are areas where some of this frost has begun to sublime away, and/or where wind has exposed the underlying dark sand. This image shows dunes near the north pole of Mars.