Dust Devils on Mars

I've heard in some of the press conferences questions from the press about
concerns for potential dust devils in the vicinity of Spirit. The response
to the questions was something like: the MER is heavy and could not be
tipped over by the dust devil. I think this misses the point. I'd be
concerned that the dust devil would churn up so much dust that the solar
panels would be seriously degraded. I suppose dust devils come up so
quickly that it's an unavoidable, but remote, possible hazard. I did
wonder, though, what the prospect is of an "emergency folding" of the solar
panels...

How much extra could a couple of "windshield wipers" have cost in weight?
:-)

Jon

"Jon Berndt" wrote in
:

I've heard in some of the press conferences questions from the press
about concerns for potential dust devils in the vicinity of Spirit.
The response to the questions was something like: the MER is heavy and
could not be tipped over by the dust devil. I think this misses the
point. I'd be concerned that the dust devil would churn up so much
dust that the solar panels would be seriously degraded. I suppose
dust devils come up so quickly that it's an unavoidable, but remote,
possible hazard. I did wonder, though, what the prospect is of an
"emergency folding" of the solar panels...

How much extra could a couple of "windshield wipers" have cost in
weight?

Probably enough to eliminate other experiment packages. If dust proves
to be a problem, it's likely that'll be given consideration on future
landers. I might be concerned with dust on the camera lens; the
camera resolution is high enough that it wouldn't take much to
blur the fine details they're capable of.

--Damon

I'd just build in a vibrator, tip the panels slightly, and switch on!

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
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"Damon Hill" wrote in message
32...
| "Jon Berndt" wrote in
| :
|
| I've heard in some of the press conferences questions from the press
| about concerns for potential dust devils in the vicinity of Spirit.
| The response to the questions was something like: the MER is heavy and
| could not be tipped over by the dust devil. I think this misses the
| point. I'd be concerned that the dust devil would churn up so much
| dust that the solar panels would be seriously degraded. I suppose
| dust devils come up so quickly that it's an unavoidable, but remote,
| possible hazard. I did wonder, though, what the prospect is of an
| "emergency folding" of the solar panels...
|
| How much extra could a couple of "windshield wipers" have cost in
| weight?
|
| Probably enough to eliminate other experiment packages. If dust proves
| to be a problem, it's likely that'll be given consideration on future
| landers. I might be concerned with dust on the camera lens; the
| camera resolution is high enough that it wouldn't take much to
| blur the fine details they're capable of.
|
| --Damon


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"Jon Berndt" wrote in message
...
I've heard in some of the press conferences questions from the press about
concerns for potential dust devils in the vicinity of Spirit.

I caught most of the news conference. It was interesting how many in the
press dwell on what can go haywire or how the mission can fail since they
are writing for the public and the public can understand failure easier than
Mars science.

The lady on the panel explained that the kind of dust that is presently
approaching Spirit is a fine haze at high altitude. So there is not an
immediate threat, based on what we know about Mars, which is not as much as
we would like.

So it got me thinking what if the panels were covered with a thick coat of
dust. And I think we can safely say that they wouldn't work.

On a related subject, the Spirit looks like it has some serious solar panel
real estate. What is the output of those things? Oh yeah. Another guy said
they had taken a temp reading in the transmitter and it was 48 F, and they
were pleased with that temp, Sounds like a mild day on Mars.

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 00:51:01 -0600, "Kent Betts"
wrote:

On a related subject, the Spirit looks like it has some serious solar panel
real estate. What is the output of those things? Oh yeah. Another guy said
they had taken a temp reading in the transmitter and it was 48 F, and they
were pleased with that temp, Sounds like a mild day on Mars.

On a 48F day, the Martian microbes would start singing "It's steamy hot in
here, so take off all your clothes..."

Dale

"Dale" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 00:51:01 -0600, "Kent Betts"
wrote:

On a related subject, the Spirit looks like it has some serious solar
panel
real estate. What is the output of those things? Oh yeah. Another guy
said
they had taken a temp reading in the transmitter and it was 48 F, and
they
were pleased with that temp, Sounds like a mild day on Mars.

On a 48F day, the Martian microbes would start singing "It's steamy hot in
here, so take off all your clothes..."

Dale

What Martian microbes?

Doc

Don't overlook the electrostatic effects of dust devils on avionics.