With the recent broadcast on PBS of Ken Burn's latest documentary
The Dust Bowl, I was reminded of the pitfalls of living on the surface or Mars (until we do some
terraforming, mind you). As with any colonization, Americans settled a new frontier out West completely unaware of what awaited them. Of course, the tragedy in the American West was man made, whereas Mars has yet to experience our plow. Yet I would expect stories of black walls of sand (or red on Mars) and ensuing madness as one tries to rid oneself of this sand would be future tales as well should we ever start to settle on the surface of Mars.
In fact, NASA is currently tracking a
massive dust storm developing on Mars that may engulf the entire planet (see an image of a similar storm in 2001 below). Fortunately, we have two operating rovers on the surface that can observe this storm, as well as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter orbiting the planet with another unique view. One of the rovers, Opportunity, depends on solar energy and would be most impacted by the storm. At least in this case it will be quite a show with no danger to farmers.
