Monday, June 17 2013 5:37 PM EDT2013-06-17 21:37:13 GMT
Investigators in Watauga County say they are looking for a man who was caught on camera breaking into the county courthouse while half-naked. According to High Country Crime Stoppers, deputies are lookingMore >>
Investigators in Watauga County say they are looking for a man who was caught on camera breaking into the county courthouse while half-naked.More >>
Tuesday, April 20 2010 11:21 PM EDT2010-04-21 03:21:00 GMT
31 people are in trouble with the law after a three day prostitution sting in Richmond. Police told NBC12 they targeted specific areas where residents and business owners complained about the illegal activity.More >>
A NASCAR driver turned himself in to authorities after arrest warrants were issued for him and a business partner. Investigators say they stole at least seven vehicles from a competitor.More >>
A NASCAR driver turned himself in to authorities after arrest warrants were issued for him and a business partner. Investigators say they stole at least seven vehicles from a competitor.More >>
Tuesday, June 18 2013 4:17 PM EDT2013-06-18 20:17:20 GMT
A man is the victim of a drowning after the fishing boat he was in sinks on Lake Norman late Monday night. North Carolina Wildlife officers said three men were on a small boat about a hundred yardsMore >>
A man drowned after his fishing boat sank on Lake Norman late Monday night.More >>
Iredell County authorities say they got a 9-1-1 call from the area of Stumpy Creek Road around 10:30 Monday night. The fisherman's body was recovered about three hours later.More >>
CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - In a few short hours, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will land on the red planet. Like shuttle landings and takeoffs here on Earth, the weather has to cooperate.
Without liquid water, Martian storms are a very different beast than what we see on Earth. The Martian atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, which is in a frozen state at the planet's poles, where temperatures are generally 220 degrees below zero.
Temperatures near -10° F are expected at the landing site. The cold temperatures won't bother the rover, but the main weather concern for the rover on the red planet are the massive dust storms that can span hundreds of miles due to huge temperature gradients.
Mars is roughly 142 million miles from the sun, so it receives only about half of the heat that reaches Earth. Additionally, its very thin atmosphere results in huge temperature swings. Temperature differences can be as dramatic as 100 degrees in the short distance from your head to your toes.
Think of how strong the winds get when strong cold fronts move in. The strongest fronts generally have differences of 60 degrees or so spread over a few miles. We're talking about 50-100 degree differences over a few meters. That will routinely kick off wind storms that swirl dust over the planet at over 125 mph.
All that Curiosity was built to stand once it arrives, but a large storm during the landing could push the rover well off its target. However, the weather does seem to be cooperating.
Over the last several days, scientists have been watching a huge Martian dust storm to the Southwest of the Curiosity's landing site, Gale Crater. Ashwin Vasavada, deputy project scientist for Curiosity's mission, told reporters the storm should miss the landing site. "It will probably not reach Gale Crater by the time we land, and if it did, the amount of dust in that cloud is not going to affect the entry, descent and landing in any meaningful way."
Once it successfully lands, the one ton rover will begin a search for signs that there was or is life on Mars.
While a million things could go wrong during landing, the weather appears to be one thing scientists can check off their list of things to worry about.
