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Re: Mars dust storms suck life out of rovers
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremiah Johnson
I'm not sure that it would settle enough to stay on the solar panels. Isn't there a constant wind on Mars? Is there enough to keep the panels clean and dust free?
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The winds vary with time-of-day and with the seasons. Dust does accumulate on the solar panels causing gradual loss of power. About 15 months after landing, the solar panel output on Spirit suddenly increased. The next day Spirit captured an image of a "dust devil" - most likely one of these cleared the dust from the rover deck. There have been several of these cleanings on both rovers since that dramatic event.
Mars is a very tough environment for the rovers: Extreme Planet Takes its Toll. Eventually, the rovers' mission will come to an end. Already, they have provided a wealth of data regarding the Red Planet. A long time ago, it had lots of liquid water on it's surface, and may have been quite habitable. It's quite possible that life on Earth originated on Mars - meaning we could all be Martians (not unlike Team 494)  .
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