
Massive Martian dust storm endangers NASA rover - kevindeasis
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05425-1
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pronoiac
I'll just link this short story: [https://www.wired.com/2016/12/jon-rogers-a-
martian-goes-hunt...](https://www.wired.com/2016/12/jon-rogers-a-martian-goes-
hunting-for-the-past/)

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starik36
I am a bit confused by the "Massive" statement. I understand that Mars has
barely any atmospheric pressure, therefore, any "Massive" storm would be a
gentle wind.

If fact, Andy Weir, the author of the "Martian", called the beginning of the
book where the hero gets stabbed by a metal rod during the massive storm a
complete fabrication for the purposes of the story and impossible in real
life.

~~~
elihu
As you say, direct damage from wind isn't a major risk on Mars, contrary to
the book. However, dust storms do happen, and according to the article they
can affect huge areas and block out most of the sunlight.

~~~
citrablue
Is the idea that this one lasts long enough that it deposits sand on my
friend's panels, and they doesn't have enough backup juice by then to
move/clean it off?

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hurrrrr
From what I heard buildup on the panels isn't that big a deal because the wind
also blows it away. But if sunlight is cut off too long the battery becomes
empty and the heaters won't work anymore. So it would literally freeze to
death.

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mabbo
I'm intrigued by what research and plans have been made for how Martian
colonists will deal with this sort of problem. I'm guessing solar won't be
enough to keep a colony going. Wind power, even in a dust storm, wouldn't be
possible because the air is so thin. Nuclear of some kind seems the only other
option.

~~~
elihu
The article doesn't say what the exact power drop is, but it appears to have
been at least 75%:

> Within days, Opportunity saw sunlight dimming as atmospheric opacity — a
> measure of how much dust is in the air — soared. The rover’s energy
> production dropped by half over the course of 2 days, and then half again in
> a single day, Callas said during a media briefing on 13 June.

Aside from nuclear, some reasonable mitigations for this kind of thing might
include substantial over-provisioning of panels, some kind of battery, or some
kind of temporary measures to consume very little energy in an emergency.

I think over-provisioning might actually be the most practical solution,
particularly if any Martian settlement needs a massive solar farm anyways in
order to produce electricity to convert water and carbon dioxide into methane
and liquid oxygen. Making rocket fuel is important, but not so important that
it can't be curtailed for a few weeks if that energy is needed elsewhere.

> An optimized system of this design massing 50 kg "is projected to produce 1
> kg/day of O2:CH4 propellant ... with a methane purity of 98+% while
> consuming 700 Watts of electrical power." Overall unit conversion rate
> expected from the optimized system is one tonne of propellant per 17 MWh
> energy input.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction#Manufacturin...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction#Manufacturing_propellant_on_Mars)

Burning rocket fuel to generate electricity might also be an option if there's
a temporary shortage.

~~~
zaarn
Overprovisioning probably won't help.

The power drop isn't 75% it's nearly 100%. The last image transmitted is pitch
black only the camera's sensor introducing some noise during the long exposure
to be visible.

The mitigation is either "lots of batteries" or "have a (nuclear) generator
and power down" because solar will not produce anything under the currently
present conditions.

(Well not "nothing", it's generating a couple milliwatts, enough to drive the
rover's internal timer so it can periodically check if it's charging
batteries)

~~~
elihu
Yeah, that's a good point; I saw that later in another comment that
illumination on the ground was almost nothing.

I guess burning rocket fuel for electricity/heat is probably the most
practical mitigation. I expect it would be tremendously inefficient, but
better than freezing due to a once-a-decade dust storm.

Lots of batteries or nuclear could also work if it's available.

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jzl
TL;DR -- The issue is lack of sunlight rather than damage from dust or
blanketing of the solar panels.

I was curious if Opportunity has a way to clean its solar panels. Answer: no,
but sometimes a wind gust helps out.

[https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-Mars-rover-manage-to-
clean-...](https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-Mars-rover-manage-to-clean-itself)

Curiosity doesn't have solar panels but rather a "radioisotope thermal
generator".

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FranOntanaya
JPL has a recording of the 13th press conference here:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIKxdRFx2Wo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIKxdRFx2Wo)

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seccess
Do dust storms only occur on planets with an atmosphere? And does their
severity depend on how dense the atmosphere is?

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scrumbledober
IANAAstronomer but I would imagine the atmosphere is necessary for both the
suspension of dust particles and the propulsion of dust particles.

~~~
ams6110
Impacts by asteroids, meteoriod, etc. could raise dust clouds.

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some_account
The story reads like a movie and everybody seems to just believe it. It's
interesting to watch something unfold that has absolutely no evidence and
still people believe it's true based on trust alone.

~~~
simion314
All the Flat earth like societies could invest in some equipment and prove
once and for all the truth about what the claim is.

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ibdf
“It’s like you have a loved one in a coma in the hospital, and you have the
doctors telling you you just have to give it time and she’ll wake up,” says
Callas. “But if it’s your 97-year-old grandmother, you’re going to be very
concerned, and we are. By no means are we out of the woods.”

This is just a sad analogy. Yes, let's compare the life of a robot to the one
of a human being.

~~~
manicdee
The life of a human being can be evaluated in terms of how many people they've
interacted with, the influence they've had on those peoples' lives, and the
lasting memories that people carry with them once that human has gone.

It is quite possible to apply the same metrics to "a robot" (which is actually
an entire science program at JPL), and see that this program has affected the
lives of many more people than most humans ever will. There are people whose
entire careers have been based on this program, and the community of
technicians, scientists, engineers, administrators etc around the robot is
just as real as the community around any person.

If this robot ceases functioning, the entire project stops, careers are ended,
and a community is fractured. To this community the robot is just as important
as any human.

Your lame attempt at concern trolling shows very little respect for the
community involved in this project.

~~~
jacobreg
Not to mention that far more than a lifetime has been collectively invested in
it. Given its budget of $400M, and assuming an engineer costs roughly
$1,000/day, we have about 1000 people-years invested in this project.

~~~
meric
A modern day pyramid: monumental sacrifice and sights to behold.

