Dust storms harm health and reduce visibility; quick detection from satellites is needed. We present a near real-time system that flags dust at the pixel level using multi-band images from NASA's Terra and Aqua (MODIS). A 3D convolutional network learns patterns across all 36 bands, plus split thermal bands, to separate dust from clouds and surface features. Simple normalization and local filling handle missing data. An improved version raises training speed by 21x and supports fast processing of full scenes. On 17 independent MODIS scenes, the model reaches about 0.92 accuracy with a mean squared error of 0.014. Maps show strong agreement in plume cores, with most misses along edges. These results show that joint band-and-space learning can provide timely dust alerts at global scale; using wider input windows or attention-based models may further sharpen edges.

Vision-based target tracking is crucial for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to perform tasks such as inspection, monitoring, and surveillance. However, real-time tracking in complex maritime environments is challenging due to dynamic camera movement, low visibility, and scale variation. Typically, object detection methods combined with filtering techniques are commonly used for tracking, but they often lack robustness, particularly in the presence of camera motion and missed detections. Although advanced tracking methods have been proposed recently, their application in maritime scenarios is limited. To address this gap, this study proposes a vision-guided object-tracking framework for USVs, integrating state-of-the-art tracking algorithms with low-level control systems to enable precise tracking in dynamic maritime environments. We benchmarked the performance of seven distinct trackers, developed using advanced deep learning techniques such as Siamese Networks and Transformers, by evaluating them on both simulated and real-world maritime datasets. In addition, we evaluated the robustness of various control algorithms in conjunction with these tracking systems. The proposed framework was validated through simulations and real-world sea experiments, demonstrating its effectiveness in handling dynamic maritime conditions. The results show that SeqTrack, a Transformer-based tracker, performed best in adverse conditions, such as dust storms. Among the control algorithms evaluated, the linear quadratic regulator controller (LQR) demonstrated the most robust and smooth control, allowing for stable tracking of the USV.

Dust storms are associated with certain respiratory illnesses across different areas in the world. Researchers have devoted time and resources to study the elements surrounding dust storm phenomena. This paper reviews the efforts of those who have investigated dust aerosols using sensors onboard of satellites using machine learning-based approaches. We have reviewed the most common issues revolving dust aerosol modeling using different datasets and different sensors from a historical perspective. Our findings suggest that multi-spectral approaches based on linear and non-linear combinations of spectral bands are some of the most successful for visualization and quantitative analysis; however, when researchers have leveraged machine learning, performance has been improved and new opportunities to solve unique problems arise.

Throughout the world, dust storms wreak havoc on many aspects of human life including health, aviation, solar power generation, and agriculture, among others. Given the hazards that this natural phenomena causes, it is imperative that societies are prepared for the onset of these storms to minimize economic loss and save lives. Utilizing the data received from Earth observation satellites, it is possible for atmospheric scientists to detect developing dust storms; however, even for experts, it can be difficult to detect dust storms in satellite images obscured by clouds, smoke, or nighttime conditions. Furthermore, manual detection requires atmospheric scientists to gather together the relevant satellite images, which takes time before a complete analysis can be made. The ability to automatically detect dust is potentially a large boon for the Earth science community.

This annotated image is a cropped version of the last 360-degree panorama taken by the Opportunity rover's Pancam from May 13 through June 10, 2018. This annotated view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see. A set of newly released photos shows what NASA's Mars rover Opportunity was looking at just before the killer dust storm hit. That storm boiled up in May 2018 and engulfed Opportunity shortly thereafter. The solar-powered robot couldn't get enough sunlight to recharge its batteries, and it went silent on June 10.

NASA's Opportunity Rover took one last stunning image of Mars's landscape, before losing touch with it after 15 years last month. The incredible 360-degree panorama shows what would been Opportunity's final resting spot in Perseverance Valley. It gives a view of the rim of the Endeavour Crater in the distance, rover tracks from Opportunity, and to the far right and left is the bottom of Perseverance Valley. The space agency lost contact with Opportunity after its years exploring the surface of the planet, laying the groundwork for future missions. A dust storm blanketed its location in June last year.

During 14 years of intrepid exploration across Mars it advanced human knowledge by confirming that water once flowed on the Red Planet - but NASA's Opportunity rover has analysed its last soil sample. The robot has been missing since the US space agency lost contact during a dust storm in June last year and was declared officially dead on Wednesday, ending one of the most fruitful missions in the history of space exploration. Unable to recharge its batteries, Opportunity left hundreds of messages from Earth unanswered over the months, and NASA said it made its last attempt at contact. "I declare the Opportunity mission as complete," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate told a news conference at mission headquarters in Pasadena, California. The community of researchers and engineers involved in the programme were in mourning over the passing of the rover, known affectionately as Oppy. "Spent the evening at JPL as the last ever commands were sent to the Opportunity rover on #Mars," Tanya Harrison, director of Martian research at Arizona State University, tweeted after a stint at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Last night, NASA reached out one final time to the Opportunity rover on Mars, hoping the golf-cart-sized machine would phone home with good news. Since June, the robot has been unresponsive, likely because a planet-wide sandstorm coated its solar panels in dust. NASA has pinged it over 1,000 times in those gloomy eight months, to no avail. Last night's attempt was no exception: NASA has announced that Opportunity is officially dead. "I was there yesterday and I was there with the team as these commands went out into the deep sky," said NASA associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen in a briefing this morning, titled A Lifetime of Opportunity.

Roughly eight months after it fell silent during a planet-wide Martian dust storm, and just weeks after celebrating its 15th anniversary on the red planet, NASA is finally saying goodbye to the Opportunity rover. The space agency has made hundreds of attempts to contact the rover since it powered down back in June, when dark skies prevented its solar battery from charging. In a last-ditch effort, NASA sent out a final set of commands on Tuesday in hopes it might finally respond. But once again, their calls were met only with silence. NASA confirmed the grim news in a press conference Wednesday afternoon, where it officially bade farewell to the long-running Mars exploration mission. With the death of the Opportunity rover also comes the end of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers program, which launched from Cape Canaveral in July 2003 with the twin robots, Spirit and Opportunity.

It's been seven months since NASA last made contact with the Opportunity rover – but, the team isn't ready to give up hope just yet. The rover celebrated a bittersweet 15th anniversary on Mars last week as it remains silent after a dust storm that blanketed the red planet back in June. Engineers on the Opportunity team say they're now trying out a new set of commands in attempt to wake up the robotic explorer over the next few weeks. Opportunity landed on Jan. 24, 2004, and logged more than 28 miles (45 kilometers) before falling silent during a global dust storm June 2018. There was so much dust in the Martian atmosphere that sunlight could not reach Opportunity's solar panels for power generation The new commands are an effort to coax the rover back into operation and address the low-likelihood events that may have happened in the wake of the storm, preventing it from sending messages back to Earth, NASA says.