2018
Year
2018
Scale
Global
Duration
104 days
Peak Opacity
Tau > 8.0 at Opportunity's Perseverance Valley location — complete opacity
Window
2018-05-30 – 2018-09-11
The 2018 global dust storm was the most thoroughly studied planet-encircling Mars dust event in history, tracked by five orbiters and two surface vehicles simultaneously. Opportunity's solar panels were completely blanketed; the rover sent its last transmission on June 10, 2018, and never recovered. Curiosity, powered by an RTG, drove through the storm providing unprecedented in-situ measurements of dust loading, temperature profiles, and atmospheric opacity during a global event. The storm lasted approximately 104 days from first detection to global clearing, and its detailed observation record has transformed atmospheric modelling of dust storm initiation and global transport mechanisms.