Martian Dust Storm Is Social Media Gold Mine for India

After a doubtful entry into the Martian outer orbit, India's Mars Orbiter Mission Mangalyaan  also known as the Mars Orbiter Mission, has had all eyes tuned in from Earth to see what the newest Mars orbiter may reveal about the red planet. And after only a few days of live-coverage from Mars' parts of space, it turns out that the Mars Orbiter Mission has revealed another red dust storm over the Northern hemisphere.

Equipped with a full-color camera that captures stunning images in high-definition resolution, Mangalyaan snapped the storm brewing last week from an orbit of 74,500 kms away from the Martian surface. While the image was by far not the first dust storm captured by Earth, as the Indian Space Research Organization is competing with other satellites from world renowned space agencies like NASA, the stunning image created quite a stir on social media when it debuted early this morning, Sept. 29.

But tracking meteorological storms is far from the end goal for Mangalyaan, as the first Asian orbiter to reach Mars. Equipped with five instruments to gather a vast array of information about the outer atmosphere and surface of the red planet, Mangalyaan's work is just starting since its arrival last Wednesday.

Fully equipped with a sensor to track methane emissions and marsh gases, a thermal-imaging spectrometer to map the surface and identify the composition of the planet, and a tricolor camera that captured the photograph in question, India's spacecraft is well-underway beginning its dynamic event coverage of Mars and its volatile atmospheric changes, as well as changes to its surface.

As the image arrived out of last week's initial batch of photographs captured by the orbiter in its arrival to the red planet, the image of the red surface hit a point of pride with India's supportive following of the Mars mission. Being Asia's first endeavor into these parts of space, the ISRO can expect to gain a massive following as live-coverage of the red planet and continued discoveries will draw in social media viewers from all corners of the Earth.