We take daily weather reports for granted here on Earth, but they just got some out-of-this-world competition from NASA's InSight mission, which is now providing reports on temperatures and wind speeds from its home on Mars.
The lander is equipped with sophisticated weather-monitoring equipment on account of one of its instruments, an ultrasensitive seismometer that scientists will use to see inside the planet. But that device is so sensitive that it could mistake gusts of wind for elusive so-called marsquakes — which is why scientists need to track the weather, second by second, on Mars.
Other phenomena seem to be more dramatic on Mars compared to Earth.
Scientists already knew about what they've called dust devils — large spiralling gusts of dust — on Mars. But researchers hadn't expected the features to be as large or violent as they are at InSight's location, where the devils have literally tilted the ground beneath the seismometer.
