The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter are excellent spacecraft that have provided insights into the Red Planet time and time again. They are also capable of doing things beyond their standard job. They recently looked at interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. They were also used to measure the winds on the surface of Mars, something that neither orbiter was designed to do.

The incredible results were possible thanks to an extensive catalog of dust devils, tornadoes of dust that have been seen by several rovers and orbiters in recent years. The combined data of the two ESA orbiters culminated in a large catalog of events, 1,039 in total, providing a new understanding of wind speed on Mars. The work showed that dust devils and winds can reach speeds of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour. They are much faster than previously assumed.