[X] My Assistant

[pioneer]

What effect, if any, will the dust devils have on the landing of Phoenix? Do they pose any threat?

[dvandorn]

Also, dust devils are *not* ubiquitous across the Martian globe. They only occur in specific places on Mars where conditions are right for them -- and you can fairly easily tell where they roam, they leave distinctive tracks.

I see no indication of any dust devil tracks anywhere in *any* of the images of Phoenix's landing site. In fact, I don't recall seeing anything resembling dust devil tracks in any of the pictures of any of the *potential* Phoenix landing sites.

I rather get the feeling that worrying about dust devils at a polar Martian site is somewhat like expressing concern over interference by hurricanes during a Soyuz landing in the Kazakh steppes. Yes, you do get hurricanes on Earth -- but never on the steppes. I'm fairly confident in saying that dust devil weather conditions on Mars are similar -- you get them, but not in polar climes.

-the other Doug