Mondo Knows Facts

Martian dust storms can swallow the whole planet

Occasionally haze engulfs Mars for weeks and cuts off solar power Dust lifted by winds near the southern summer can spread from local patches into storms covering the entire globe. The 2018 storm darkened the sky so much that the solar-powered Opportunity rover never woke again. Airborne dust also warms the atmosphere, which drives winds that lift yet more dust. It sits in Mondo's space collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

NASA Science

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: mars, duststorms, weather

Martian dust storms can swallow the whole planet: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Occasionally haze engulfs Mars for weeks and cuts off solar power. The figure is taken from NASA Science, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a space fact?
Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.