A group of scientists has suggested that the accumulation of electrical charges inside dust devils on Mars could lead to the formation of lightning. However, other scientists disagree with this statement.
Dust devils on Mars
An international group of scientists has recently published a paper suggesting that dust devils on Mars can accumulate charges and then discharge them. Simply put, we are talking about the formation of lightning. This sounds quite worrying for all missions on the red planet. Because charged dust sticking to the Mars rover is already a pretty bad situation, and getting hit by a discharge is a total mission threat.
In general, there is nothing mysterious about the formation of dust devils on Mars. When the sun heats the Martian surface, the air temperature above it also increases. Hot air is lighter than cold air, so it rises.
Pockets of hot air rise through cold air, quickly forming an upward current. A sudden uprush causes the air to move horizontally inward toward the center of the new vortex. If conditions are favorable, the vortex completes its formation and begins to rotate. As the air continues to rise, the vortex stretches vertically, like noodles, causing it to spin even faster. When the vortex gains speed, the wind swirls and lifts dust. This is how a dust devil appears.
Dust devils are often seen on the dry and dusty surface of Mars. The fourth planet from the Sun has less gravity and a thinner atmosphere than Earth. This allows the wind there to lift dust higher than the wind on Earth. As a result, Martian dust devils can be three times larger than their Earth counterparts.
Martian vortexes, or dust devils as they are also known, have been known for a long time. And sometimes they even helped people. For example, in 2005, one of them blew dust off the solar panels of the Spirit rover, which made its work much easier.
Charges and lightning
And now scientists believe that dust devils can accumulate charges and generate lightning. On Earth, the latter phenomenon mainly occurs inside thunderclouds. Water and ice droplets begin to move chaotically, and friction causes electrical charges to accumulate.
Due to the intensity of the magnetic field, these charges can only move downward. This is how lightning occurs. And scientists believe that the same thing happens in Martian vortexes. However, a number of experts strongly disagree that this necessarily leads to lightning. They claim that the discharge should occur at a lower voltage, which means that real thunder cannot be expected.
However, the authors of the study disagree with this. They say that these theories do not take into account the presence of particles of different sizes in the vortex, but they have researched this issue and found that the largest of them can remain in the air for a long time and provide a truly powerful discharge.
In addition, supporters of Martian lightning point to a recording from one of the Mars rovers, which they believe contains a characteristic crackling sound. It is now necessary to examine this issue in a more detailed manner.
According to www.space.com
