We have lots of robot helpers on Mars. Rocky is one of our big pressurized rovers that can carry several people across Mars in comfort. And Choppie is my own personal helicopter drone that I lost and found a while back.
Recently, Choppie was scouting ahead of us while we rode in Rocky. We spotted a set of dust devils on the route ahead, and Choppie knew to automatically land when dust devils are zipping around. |
| Pip took this photo as I was climbing down from Rocky's cabin. |
Usually, dust devils are not dangerous for people or heavy equipment, but a light aircraft like Choppie can be flipped or pushed into a cliff by the wind.
"Wow," Pip said. "Mars sure has a lot of dust devils. Have you studied them in weather class yet?"
"Oh sure," I said. "Dust devils start when air near the ground gets warm and starts to rise. More air moves along the ground to replace the rising air. Eventually, it all starts spinning and whirling, and - bam - you get a dust devil."
Mars has dust everywhere, and they can cover a robot's solar panel. The more dust that piles up on a panel, the less sunlight gets through, and the less electricity it can generate.
But it's not all bad news. Every now and then, a nice dust devil comes along and blows it clean!
More here:
[1] https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/a-dust-devil-is-born
[2] https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8433/for-insight-dust-cleanings-will-yield-new-science/?site=insight
If you have ever studied weather on Mars (or any planet), tell me at
RamoneRocketeer -at- gmail -dot- com.
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