These Dust Devils are strong whirlwinds of hot air, occurring on Mars. Compared to the terrestrial dust devils, Martian ones are very common there and can be up to fifty times as wide and ten times as high. Large ones may pose a threat to technology sent to Mars.
If humans make it to Mars, the dust devils pose potential hazards to them as well. If Martian dust devils are highly electrified, as our research suggests, they will increase the tendency for dust to stick to space suits and equipment. They might also interfere with radio communications as the electrically charged dust grains bang into radio antennas.
The funny thing is that despite the hazards they can be useful: last year, NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity experienced a “cleaning event” that blew off much of the red dust that had stuck to the rover’s solar array, boosting the solar energy it received.
Source:
http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/press/spirit/20050819a.html
Reference:
http://news.discovery.com/space/rover-opportunity-celebrates-mars-spring-power-boost-140327.htm
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
Captured in 2005 by Spirit rover
#dustdevils #nasa #marsexploration #rover #space
Hi there! :)
ReplyDeleteDavid Hallowell yes, the atmospheric pressure on Mars is less than 1% of Earths, and as a result, wind force on Mars is about equivalent to wind on Earth of 1/10th the speed. So a 200mph wind on Mars would only have the force of about a 20mph wind on Earth. The dust carried is very fine and the gravity less which accounts for how dust is carried by these relatively weak winds.
ReplyDeleteThe electrostatic aspect of the dust storms had not occurred to me - guess they should have used that aspect in the Martian instead of the highly exaggerated wind force.