Mars weather forecast for Mars exploration

For Mars researchers, it is of course necessary to know the climate parameters on Mars, but more people find it interesting to set up such a Mars weather forecasting team. "Why do we care about the weather on Mars? No one lives on Mars, no one works there and no one goes to school there. " "Daily Science" website commented when introducing the world's first weather forecaster on Mars.

"The most direct benefit of Mars weather forecast is that when the exploration robot lands on Mars, the weather forecast can effectively increase the landing safety factor of the robot." Mark Lemmon said that he also works in the Department of Atmospheric Science of Texas A&M University, and he himself led or participated in many Mars development projects. "In the long run, when astronauts begin to explore artificially on Mars in the future, the work of weather forecasting will become more essential."

There are three probes launched by NASA to work on Mars, among which Phoenix is a fixed-point probe, Endeavour and Spirit are roaming vehicles driven by solar energy. When the solar cells run out, two rovers will die and be buried in the dust of Mars. Therefore, the change of weather conditions has a vital impact on them.

When a sandstorm breaks out on Mars, the dust all over the sky will block the sun from shining on the solar panel on the detector, thus shortening the life of the solar cell. On the other hand, strong wind will also blow the dust away from the solar panel. "If we can grasp the meteorological changes on Mars in advance, we can send some instructions to the Mars rovers on Earth in order to make better use of energy and extend their service life." Zhan York said. In the next exploration plan, the weather forecast of Mars can help NASA choose a day with suitable weather to make the probe land more safely.

However, how to determine the daily rain and snow on Mars, according to Jan York, "all predictions must be based on solid and reliable data." In order to forecast the weather on Mars, Jan York must collect all kinds of physical parameters on Mars, such as temperature, wind, wind direction and pressure data on Mars, and establish a meteorological digital model. In fact, the weather forecast on TV is based on a similar meteorological model. According to this model, meteorologists can predict the change of weather, or the changing trend of weather over a period of time. However, establishing a detailed model of Martian meteorological parameters may be a more valuable part of the Martian weather forecast plan. "We hope to record the data between the atmospheres of Mars in as much detail as possible, which is the main purpose of our project." Zhan York said.