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A dusty shade of Mars Two images, taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) onboard the now
decommissioned Mars Global Surveyor orbiter in 2001, show the dramatic change in the
planet's appearance when haze raised by a planet-circling dust event grew from the
south and became globally distributed. The images were taken about a month apart.
This was the first planet-encircling dust event that NASA’s Mars Exploration Program
witnessed in 20 years of constant observation. There was another one in 2007, which
Opportunity survived. Now this storm that the rover is trying to ride out, looks to be only
the third such massive storm during the last two decades. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS