Dust Storm!

 

We've know about dust storms on Mars for years. Even before we sent probes, some storms were big enough to see by telescopes on Earth.

Just like storms on Earth, Mars has small and large dust storms every year. Some cover continent-sized areas and last for weeks.

Last week, we had a storm with winds around 40 miles per hour (about 64 kilometers per hour). That's pretty strong, but atmospheric pressure on Mars is WAY less than earth. Sure, things get blown around, but not with the same intensity as the same wind speed on Earth.

Here's the real problem: individual dust particles on Mars are very small and carry a small static charge, so they stick to everything they contact. Rub a balloon on your hair and watch what happens. Dust on Mars is like that.

And it gets everywhere, like in outside equipment. During the storm, I went out to manually power down a coring rover since it wasn't responding to radio signals.

What was wrong? You guessed it: dust got into the electronics again. Happens all the time. Never a dull day on Mars.

More info here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/the-fact-and-fiction-of-martian-dust-storms

If you draw Mars pictures, send me a sample at

RamoneRocketeer -at- gmail -dot- com.