Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

Grypd · 2005-07-16 06:50:21

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-atm … Spacedaily article

For 15 minutes you huddled and endured the buffeting. The scariest part was the incessant crackling and flashing of miniature lightning bolts nipping at you and your rover

Nasa believes that the Martian Whirlwinds could pose a threat to people and machinery exposed on the surface. The problem is not the speed of the wind as the lower pressure means it has little force but that the wind would pick up a lot of dust. The dust will get electrically charged and since some of the largest Martian whirlwinds can be up to ten miles in height they can build a charge that is truly dangerous.

The solution is simple ensure that all Martian vehicles and suits can be properly earthed and that points where charge will form are not there. No corners just rounded edges

Palomar · 2005-07-16 08:11:08

*C'mon, Grypd...doesn't it sound like fun?? We could be dust devil wranglers. Yeee-haaaw!

Read this article yesterday. It's similar to ones I've read before. This particular caught my eye, though:

"The sand in the lower part of a Martian dust devil would be the biggest hazard,"

-familiar:-

"If you were standing next to the Spirit rover right now [in Gusev Crater] in the middle of the day, you might see half a dozen dust devils," says Lemmon.
Each Martian spring or summer day, dust devils begin appearing about 10 AM as the ground heats, and start abating about 3 PM as the ground cools

I remember that "timing" from a previous article. I like dust devils...(both Earth and Martian varieties) :;):

--Cindy

Grypd · 2005-07-16 10:28:17

Well yes but as a problem it is something we have to be aware of and design properly. And be aware it could pose a deadly danger especially to unshielded electronics.

But think of the scouring that dust would do and I wonder if paint jobs will be a continous duty.

Maybe even make it a fashion statement as we change the paint schemes on our rovers as the mood takes us. Probably do the same with the suits.

And ill be the rover that is in Tartan.

Palomar · 2005-07-19 10:33:33

But think of the scouring that dust would do and I wonder if paint jobs will be a continous duty.

*My neck of the woods gets sand storms, frequent dust devils, extreme sunshine (306 days per year, IIRC). There are water towers around here which have retained their bright colors; always look freshly painted, though I've never seen even a touch-up job (one is nearby).

I've often wondered exactly what type of paint the artist used (the water towers are covered entirely by murals, same artist).

Our home has been painted with Elastomeric paint, which expands and contracts with temperature fluctuations. It's high-tech, expensive stuff.

Will certainly need durable stuff...or buildings and etc on Mars might be necessarily drab (I hope not).

--Cindy

P.S.:

Maybe even make it a fashion statement as we change the paint schemes on our rovers as the mood takes us. Probably do the same with the suits.
And ill be the rover that is in Tartan.

Will your rover's horn play The Campbells Are Coming in bagpipe when you honk it? :;):

Grypd · 2005-07-23 14:57:56

ecrasez_l_infame wrote:

Will your rover's horn play The Campbells Are Coming in bagpipe when you honk it? :;):

Not a chance serious cultural problem that. You do know no one trusts a Campbell.

Still thought of another problem if we use simple electronic devices to make guide routes will we have to harden them from the electrical interference of a storm. This could make them a bit more expensive to make. hmmmm

publiusr · 2005-09-01 14:36:29

And we will need HLLV to put the Doppler On Wheels up there

Dragoneye · 2005-09-02 12:01:08

hummm i like what cindy posted... that article mentioning that there could be multiple in one day.... well if we found a way to harness the power from the storm... we could lay off using specific sources of power like some solar and what not. we could build machines that take in the static that it produces and stores it....

publiusr · 2005-09-08 14:25:47

Perhaps with tensegrity structures and the new lightweight nano-sheets--you might get a windmill lightweight enough to work.

SpaceNut · 2020-06-06 09:17:20

Not on mars yet but may be possible with the correct materials Windmill catches fire near Rio Vista in Solano County

The flames also burned some nearby brush but this is not going to be much of an issue for mars. That windmill is part of a "wind farm" that generates renewable electricity but for mars its not about green its just about making power.

elderflower · 2020-06-13 07:47:57

Windmills depend on Mass flow of atmospheric gas through their blade swept area. The atmospheric pressure on Mars is very low so therefore so is its density. There would be precious little power output from even a huge machine on a windy day.

SpaceNut · 2020-09-21 16:09:38

repost
I found this other news site while searching for the data for the insight and Curiosity (MSL) sensors of temperature, solar energy and windspeed.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/

This is the Rovers instruments
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/instruments/rems/
With the data going here http://cab.inta-csic.es/rems/marsweather.html

Summary pages
https://cab.inta-csic.es/rems/weather-r … -month-11/
https://cab.inta-csic.es/rems/weather-r … -month-10/

Hopefully they keep the same page address structure to find more.

This is the top panel for the rovers data page
https://mars.nasa.gov/layout/embed/image/mslweather/
This is the insight data panel so we can compare how cold each day is across the planet
https://mars.nasa.gov/layout/embed/imag … htweather/

InSight Is the Newest Mars Weather Service

No matter how cold your winter has been, it's probably not as chilly as Mars. Check for yourself: Starting today, the public can get a daily weather report from NASA's InSight lander.

https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/

Daily Weather Report

InSight is taking daily weather measurements (temperature, wind, pressure) on the surface of Mars at Elysium Planitia, a flat, smooth plain near Mars’ equator.

This is a graph but its easier to see in numbers

The air and temperature are easier to see in the table image that is done in java script code from another source and is displayed above that one.

Still looking for the raw data location for daily measurements.....

SpaceNut · 2020-09-23 17:24:26

https://www.windpowerengineering.com/ca … er-output/

http://windpower.generatorguide.net/win … power.html

http://web.mit.edu/wepa/teaching/MIT.20 … dPower.pdf

Wind Power depends on:
• amount of air (volume)
• speed of air (velocity)
• mass of air (density)
flowing through the area of interest (flux)

https://www.rpc.com.au/pdf/wind4.pdf
WIND TURBINE POWER, ENERGY, AND TORQUE

So air mass or density is used in the equation as well as the amount of movement by it which is the force which is being applied to the windmills blades or surface area.

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#1 2005-07-16 06:50:21

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#2 2005-07-16 08:11:08

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#3 2005-07-16 10:28:17

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#4 2005-07-19 10:33:33

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#5 2005-07-23 14:57:56

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#6 2005-09-01 14:36:29

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#7 2005-09-02 12:01:08

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#8 2005-09-08 14:25:47

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#9 2020-06-06 09:17:20

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#10 2020-06-13 07:47:57

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#11 2020-09-21 16:09:38

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

#12 2020-09-23 17:24:26

Re: Martian Whirlwinds - A Threat..Possibly

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