What would happen if a Martian-sized dust storm came down to Earth?
A dust storm is not a purely alien form of weather. It’s something we have in common with Mars.
As far back as Darwin, scientists were finding dust, which they
suspected came from Africa, in unexpected places. Today we find that
dust from the peaks of snowy mountains, to the depths of the ocean and
everywhere in between. And with it come microbes.
Now, as human exploration of Mars creeps closer, exhaustive testing is
underway to ensure that astronauts are protected from the dust storms
that rage there. Through their research we are not only preparing to
face those extra-terrestrial storms, we are also learning about how to
deal with and understand dust storms on Earth.
As we follow a trail of dust around the globe, we experience, though
cutting edge CGI, the terrifying impact on Earth of an all-encompassing,
Martian-sized dust storm.
First stop: Switzerland, where microbiology professor William Broughton
is studying dust’s path from Africa to the Alps. Evidence that dust
traveled huge distances comes from an unexpected source: Charles Darwin.
Broughton has dust samples from Darwin’s 1833 Voyage of the Beagle -
dust that carried passengers - microbes…that are still alive.
Then to the Mojave Desert of the Southwestern U.S., where a NASA-funded
team is chasing “dust devils,” twisting, mysterious columns of dust,
sand and dirt that are also found on the surface of Mars. Meanwhile,
in the polar desert of the Canadian Arctic, Pascal Lee is preparing for
human exploration of Mars itself. Giant dust storms are a major threat
to any manned mission on the Red Planet. Lee is principal Investigator
of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project. He puts NASA’s prototype space suit
through its paces to see if it will withstand the onslaught that awaits
us on Mars.
In U.S. Virgin Islands, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin turns Aquanaut
when he joins forces with microbiologist Dale Griffin to search for
evidence that fungal stowaways on dust from Africa are killing coral
reefs. Aldrin is an avid scuba diver and has first-hand experience of
extraterrestrial dust: many of the Apollo astronauts who walked on the
moon complained of breathing problems, later traced to moon-dust
transported into the module on their boots.
And in the Mars-like Atacama Desert of Chile, the driest desert on
Earth, scientists have discovered that life is more resilient than
anyone had imagined.
As Earthly dust is tracked and investigated around the world, a
Martian-sized dust storm stirs up in Africa and grows to consume our
planet. Stunning CGI reveals unleashed dust devils that tower over city
skyscrapers as the storm takes over our world... just as such dust
storms have been known to do on Mars.
