![]() Weaker or disorganized storms may also feature an eyewall that does not completely encircle the eye or have an eye that features heavy rain. In weaker tropical cyclones, the eye is less well defined and can be covered by the central dense overcast, an area of high, thick clouds that show up brightly on satellite imagery. In strong tropical cyclones, the eye is characterized by light winds and clear skies, surrounded on all sides by a towering, symmetric eyewall. The cyclone's lowest barometric pressure occurs in the eye and can be as much as 15 percent lower than the pressure outside the storm. It is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weather and highest winds occur. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area, typically 30–65 kilometers (19–40 miles) in diameter. The eye is a region of mostly calm weather at the center of tropical cyclones. Follow us on Twitter (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab). Follow him on Twitter (opens in new tab). Mike Wall is the author of " Out There (opens in new tab) " (Grand Central Publishing, 2018 illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. But Ingenuity performed so well that NASA approved an extension, during which the chopper is serving as a scout for Perseverance and pushing the boundaries of Red Planet flight. The rotorcraft did just that on five initial flights, which were originally supposed to be the entirety of its mission. ![]() Ingenuity is a technology demonstration designed to show that aerial exploration is feasible on Mars. Ingenuity stayed aloft for 99.98 seconds and covered about 205 feet (62 meters) during the sortie, JPL officials said via Twitter (opens in new tab) on Tuesday. Tuesday's flight took Ingenuity out of a rugged patch of Jezero's floor known as South Séítah, over a ridge and onto a plateau, mission team members have said. "There was a lot of dust in the air after that recent storm," Good said. The delay ended up extending into February, apparently out of an abundance of caution, JPL spokesman Andrew Good told via email last week. Big dust storms may have driven off much of Mars' water Mars dust storm 2018: How it grew and killed the Opportunity rover Ingenuity spots Perseverance rover from the air (photo) "We also observed the effect of dust in the amount of sunlight absorbed by Ingenuity's solar array, which fell well below normal 'clear sky' levels, a drop of about 18%." "This observed decrease would have put density below the lower threshold of safe flight and would have imparted undue risk to the spacecraft," wrote Bapst and Mischna, both of whom are based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. "Most notable was a sharp drop in air density - about a 7% deviation below what was observed pre-dust storm," Jonathan Bapst and Michael Mischna, of Ingenuity's weather and environment team, wrote in an update (opens in new tab) on Jan. The dust storm did indeed roll over Jezero Crater, and the effects were observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the weather station aboard Perseverance, and Ingenuity's sensors. The delay turned out to be the right call, mission team members said. That may not sound like a big deal, but Mars' air is just 1% as dense as that of Earth at sea level, so flying there is tricky even in the best of circumstances. ![]() Second, airborne dust absorbs solar radiation and heats up the surrounding atmosphere, thinning it out slightly. First, Ingenuity is solar powered, so lots of dust in the air could affect its ability to recharge its batteries. Two main factors underlay the decision to delay.
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