[X] My Assistant

[fredk]

One question is can a "gust" produce a long dark trail like dust devils do? Looking at the animation, some of the trails are very wide - as wide as Homeplate or wider. We have seen some huge dd's in action from the ground. I doubt it would be obvious if one such wide trail appeared over the rover - it would just lower the surrounding albedo.

And again, looking at the later frames, most of the ground in the plains, and even around HP, is cleaned by the end of the dd season. Does this mean that most of that ground has been swept by dd's, or, again, do localized gusts also make trails? I don't see how a "gust" could produce a trail so much longer than it is wide. If all trails are due to dd's, then it sounds reasonable that some of the cleaning events we've had have been from very broad dd's.

[Juramike]

I'll bet that dust devils might actually be bad things for the rover. The dust devils are probably sucking up dust along the track and pumping it up into the air. So over time the dust settles back down over the region and coats everything in a fine layer of dust. ('Course the local dust might get tranported to another region, but what comes up must come down eventually.)

So unless the rover gets hit directly by a dust devil or associated wind gust, dust devils are probably overall bad things for solar panels.

-Mike

[climber]

I'm well aware of all of the past discussions. What I should have said is that anything - ANYTHING - that produces a gust of wind would be helpful for dear ol' Spirit these days!

Why do you think they've put this little man, polar bear, speady turtoise near Spirit for ?

[edstrick]

"What I should have said is that anything - ANYTHING - that produces a gust of wind would be helpful for dear ol' Spirit these days!"

If we could just move all the presidential debates to home plate, and the post debate reportorial nose-picking... there'd be plenty of hot air to blow the rover spic and span!

<One ex-damn-yankee in Texas who sort of wishes it were 2009 and the insanity was all over>

[TheChemist]

So unless the rover gets hit directly by a dust devil or associated wind gust, dust devils are probably overall bad things for solar panels.

-Mike

Mike, here is some literature and an image from a 3-year old post.

[Juramike]

Great link!!!! Thanks!