NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and the Hubble Space Telescope are giving scientists a "phenomenal, unprecedented view" of a global dust storm on Mars. The storm has raised a cloud of dust that has engulfed the planet for three months. The storm is not a single, continuing event but a planet-wide series.
Meanwhile, NASA is to release its first Mars Scout announcement of opportunity next February. The programme will consider several low-cost missions, including a Mars aircraft and an instrumented balloon which would be blown across the surface by the high Martian winds.
Source: Flight International