Mars Rovers Threatened By Dust Storms

mrcgran writes "Space.com is reporting a new potentially deadly weather condition threatening the Mars rovers: 'The first and largest dusty squall has reduced direct sunlight to Mars' surface by nearly 99 percent, an unprecedented threat for the solar-powered rovers. If the storm keeps up and thickens with even more dust, officials fear the rovers' batteries may empty and silence the robotic explorers forever. "This thing has been breaking records the past few days. The sun is 100 times fainter than normal. We're hoping for a big break in the storm soon, but that's just a hope." '"

Comments

Re:Wind turbines?

[OriginalArlen]

MERs and other Mars surface landers and rovers don't use wind turbines because the atmosphere is incredibly thin - far to thin to turn turbine blades. Think about it... they've only received puffs of wind strong enough to blow the thin coating of (incredibly small) dust particles off the solar cells half a dozen times in three years. You'd barely feel the touch of the wind on your skin even when it's blowing at it's strongest.