A lonely rover on Mars has made a surprising discovery: lightning does occur on the red planet. NASA’s Perseverance rover has identified electrical discharges during dust storms and dust devils—an exciting finding that has happened 55 times over two Martian years.
These dust storms create the right conditions for lightning to form, even in Mars’s thin and dry atmosphere. Scientists have long suspected this could happen, but now they have proof.
Lightning typically occurs when particles collide in a turbulent atmosphere, which creates an electric charge. On Earth, this is common during thunderstorms, but Mars presents a different environment. Still, lightning has been recorded on gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, hinting at its potential on other planets.
The Perseverance rover is specially equipped to detect such events. Led by planetary scientist Baptiste Chide from the University of Toulouse, a team analyzed 28 hours of data from the rover’s SuperCam microphone, looking for signs of electrical discharges among swirling Martian dust. They confirmed seven significant events, observing the acoustic signature of tiny “thunderclaps” caused by heat from the discharges.
Interestingly, most electrical discharges occurred during intense winds, which suggests that high wind speeds combined with dust particles are key to lightning formation on Mars. The recorded discharges were small, from 0.1 to 150 nanojoules, far less than the billion joules of energy in a typical lightning strike on Earth.
The implications of this discovery are significant. It can help scientists design better technology for future Mars missions to protect against electrical discharges. It can also improve our understanding of how chemical reactions occur in Mars’ atmosphere due to electricity.
Some scientists even speculate that lightning could play a role in the development of life. On early Earth, lightning might have helped create the first biological molecules. If that’s the case, lightning on Mars could hint at possibilities for life there as well.
“This study opens up a notable field of investigation for Mars’ atmosphere,” Chide and his team concluded.
The findings have been published in Nature.
This research emphasizes how much there is still to discover about Mars and its weather systems. Each finding helps scientists piece together the planet’s past and its potential for future exploration.
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