Mars Weirdness - Something Cleaned Rover Solar Panels

[indigobusiness]

Mystery Martian 'Carwash'
Cleaned Rover Panels
12-22-4

LONDON (Reuters) - An unexplained phenomenon akin to a space-borne car wash has boosted the performance of one of the two U.S. rovers probing the surface of Mars, New Scientist magazine said on Tuesday.

It said something -- or someone -- had regularly cleaned layers of dust from the solar panels of the Mars Opportunity vehicle while it was closed down during the Martian night.

The cleaning had boosted the panels' power output close to their maximum 900 watt-hours per day after at one stage dropping to 500 watt-hours because of the heavy Martian dirt.

By contrast, the power output of the solar panels of Mars Spirit -- on a different part of the Red Planet -- had dropped to just 400 watt-hours a day, clogged by the heavy dust.

"These exciting and unexplained cleaning events have kept Opportunity in really great shape," the magazine quoted NASA rover team leader Jim Erickson as saying.

[LiberalVoice]

1. Any theories on how that might have happened?

[China_cat]

3. Merry Maids really DO go everywhere.

[verdalaven]

4. Wind blowing the dust off? nm

[LiberalVoice]

5. I thought that...

I just wasn't sure about how wind worked on mars... :P

[indigobusiness]

6. NASA is perplexed. They can't explain it. Why hasn't the other rover

been cleaned if wind is doing it?

There is something peculiar about this in NASA's eyes, and mine too.
It's a nice wrinkle on the Mars story. I like the Martian squeegeeman theory. But who knows?

[verdalaven]

12. Might be the location

I am science impaired, so bear with me on this....

Maybe the rover that is cleaned nightly is in a valley where winds swoop down from higher elevations, gain speed enough to clean off the dust and the other rover is in a flatter, less windy place?

Or....there is just enough dew in the air where the other rover is to make the dust heavier and less apt to get blown away.

All in all, very interesting to think about.

Merry Christmas, by the way!! :)

[indigobusiness]

13. Yes, I guess...

but NASA doesn't seem to think merely wind would explain the anomaly of it happening to only one. In fact, NASA doesn't seem to think wind alone could clean the panels.
Merry Christmas to you!

[autorank]

20. Technicians in the Houston studio do this routinely. N'est pas?

[indigobusiness]

21. So, this is the clincher

that the whole thing is a ruse?

What do you make of the lumber pic (below)? A careless technician?

[autorank]

23. Yes, somebody said "We want wood" and there you have it.

:tinfoilhat: Having a good Xmas?

[indigobusiness]

25. Not really...

but I've got wood.


You?

[autorank]

27. The best part of Xmas is that is's over in 4 hours and 21 minutes here!

[indigobusiness]

28. If you're in Antarctica...

be sure to wear your lead hat. The UVL is murder.

[autorank]

29. Holy Shit, it is over. Have to find something to gripe about. I know, *!

[hvn_nbr_2]

22. No mystery. Diebold meters measure the watt-hours output.

If they're not producing the right output, a Diebold tech logs on and adjusts the counting mechanism.

[gmoney]

2. Martian squeegee guys? (eom)

[madrchsod]

7. oh my god! it`s a double!!!

an art bell and a george noory alert. can`t wait till monday night-should be a really good show for my drive home from work!

[whistle]

8. How about a carbon dioxide rain storm, or more precisely...

...a CO2 snow storm with high winds!

[indigobusiness]

11. That occurred to me...but if they had witnessed

any sort of precipitation, wouldn't we have heard of some such phenomenon? And wouldn't NASA think of it, as a possibility?

[NYC]

9. I wish I had one of those.

Whatever it is.

[OneBlueSky]

10. hmm . . . guess Ray Walston didn't really die after all . . . n/t

.

[oneighty]

14. Static electricity

Charged particles?

180

[verdalaven]

15. I need a science lesson :)

How would that work? Increased electrical activity where one rover is located? Would that interfere with the way the thing runs?

[oneighty]

16. I am thinking perhaps

the solar panel is covered with dust particles carrying a positive charge (Or negative) A windstorm carrying opposite charged particles attract them away?

And one might speculate the solar panels attract charged particles then some how the solar panel changes polarity and they are repelled off.

Could be. Regardless it is very interesting.

180

[verdalaven]

17. I understand

and yes, it is very interesting.

[oneighty]

18. In the dark

as I was laying abed recovering from excited grandchildren-"Ah I thought, the dust collecting on a TV screen is a perfect example of what might be happening to the solar panels."

Think about it. There is a simple experiment that could be tried. Maybe I will do that.

180

[On the Road]

54. I Was Thinking Along the Same Lines, OneEighty

[Beetwasher]

55. Nahh, Donchya Know, It Was Them Thar Aliens!

They got nuthin' better to do than to clean our windshields (or solar panels) :eyes:

[indigobusiness]

56. Maybe they think they're windows

and they're trying to peek inside?

[indigobusiness]

19. More Martian weirdness: Lumber on Mars? JPL Rover (pic)

[idiosyncratic]

24. Looks like lumber. But, what is that bright light off in the distance?

n/t

[indigobusiness]

26. Yeah, that's what I noticed first.

Maybe it is the lander? Or maybe that's that's the rover and the nearby solar panels are for the lander? Or maybe it's the Lumberman?

[indigobusiness]

32. I've studied the light in the distance and determined it is The Monolith

from 2001 A Space Odyssey. Sunlight is reflecting off it.

But, I can't explain the weathered wooden plank. Perhaps a piece of Noah's Arc. That Man REALLY got around.

[idiosyncratic]

35. I had that same thought...about the board being from Noah's Ark.

Must be E.S.P. :)

[indigobusiness]

36. Or maybe

Noah does get around?

[oneighty]

39. The lumber

is a railroad tie, probably from NY Central RR System. Those ties are everywhere! Everywhere I tell you!

180

[indigobusiness]

41. Yep...

and the creosote makes 'em last forever.

[oneighty]

42. Those pictures

do cause one to scratch head and say hmm???

The flag stones resemble an ocean shore line on an island in the Caribbean.

180

[indigobusiness]

43. If that isn't wood. It is still a peculiar anomaly.

But, it sure looks like wood. The mosaic patio-like feature seems natural enough.

[oneighty]

44. Yes it does look like wood.

But of course we know that it cannot be.

Can it?

180

[indigobusiness]

45. That's the crux of the biscuit...

...isn't it?

[oneighty]

46. I am so old

and Mars is so far away. I will never know. Perhaps you will!

Sigh!

180

[slutticus]

47. WIOLAWA is going to have a field day with this

:crazy:

http://www.wiolawapress.com/

[indigobusiness]

49. Then they'll just love the new photo

see message #48

[slutticus]

50. Isn't that part of the heat shield?

I read a while back that the engineers wanted a close-up examination of the remains of the heat shield so that they can study how well it held it's integrity through the decent. I can't remember which rover was supposed to do that, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

I think they also wanted to study the trench made by the pieces as they crashed, so that they could get a look at freshly uncovered dirt.

[indigobusiness]

51. Perhaps.

What do you think of the "lumber"?

[slutticus]

52. Well...

...It certainly looks like lumber. But if you look at the surrounding area, there seem to be striations in the ground that run parallel to the length of the "lumber". It could just be some strange weathering phenomena due to wind or water flow. Any Geologists around?

I'm trying to get a feel for the scale of it. I wonder how big it is....

[indigobusiness]

53. Pan right and you get a scale reference.

It has the look of weathered sandstone with dimensions reminiscent of a plank.

Fun to talk about, though.

[KSAtheist]

30. I'm thinking wind.

Low atmospheric pressure; fine sand; 60 mph winds...

[indigobusiness]

31. How would that perplex NASA? They refer to the "heavy dust"

of Mars. Surely NASA has considered all of the more mundane explanations? Why do they see this as so mysterious if wind were a possible answer?

edit---How would you explain the "lumber" in the JPL photo?

[Ediacara]

33. An educated guess here

Opportunity may be in an area with less clay content than Spirit. Katabatic winds surely whip across the plains at night, and if Opportunity is in an area with less clay, the dust is less likely to stick. If Spirit's dust has even a little bit of clay, even in the absence of abundant water, it will stick more readily to to the rover.

[HeeBGBz]

34. That is astounding!

Martians have a sense of humor!

[indigobusiness]

37. Did you check out the wooden plank in the photo?

message #19. Now, THAT'S astounding! Martians certainlt do have a sense of humor alright. They're cracking me up! And blowing my mind...

[HeeBGBz]

38. Dayum! What is up with that?

The ground rocks near it looks like a patio. I guess planetary visitors picked up a railroad tie to landscape the red planet. Nice.

[oneighty]

40. Whoops!

I should have read your post before making mine. But it sure do look like a RR Tie!

180

[indigobusiness]

48. ANOTHER WEIRD PHOTO

Very, very weird.

See message #38

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2871661&mesg_id=2871911&page=