Major Martian Milestones - NASA Science

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The horizon of Mars showing water-ice and dust in the atmosphere, as seen by the NASA's Mars Odyssey mission on May 9, 2023. To find layers of ice and dust like these in Mars's atmosphere, participants in the Cloudspotting on Mars project analyze data from a different infrared instrument, the Mars Climate Sounder on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. More information on this image (including an animation) can be found here: https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/27816/odysseys-themis-views-the-horizon-of-mars/?site=msl.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

There's good news from NASA's Cloudspotting on Mars project! That's the project that invites you to help identify exotic clouds high in the Martian atmosphere.

• Thanks to your help, the Cloudspotting on Mars project reached ahuge milestone. Another full Mars year, Mars Year 30 (Oct 2009 - Sep 2011), has been completed! That's the second full Mars year of observations that has been analyzed since the project began. 

• A new project from the Cloudspotting on Mars team has started its beta testing phase! In this new project, you'll pick out cloud shapes in data from NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) Mission.  If you're willing to help beta test this project and provide feedback before it launches, please send an email to the team. We'll let everyone know when this project officially launches, of course!

Congratulations to the Cloudspotting on Mars team and all the volunteers who have helped spot Martian clouds!

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NASA Science Editorial Team