Dust Storms and The Martian

If you have yet to see the new film The Martian, you are in for a treat.  This amazingly beautiful and superbly acted film with stay with you for a long time, and hopefully it will increase the public awareness of the awesomeness as well as risks related to a Martian mission. The other words that come to mind after seeing the movie are duct tape, disco, and cooperation in space.  But you will know what I am talking about after you see it for yourself.

Of course, one of the stars in the film is the Martian weather, and the winds in particular.  In the movie, the winds proved destructive to the mission on Mars and continually rattled the equipment and housing modules.  NASA provided some insights on this in an article titled "The Fact and Fiction of Martian Dust Storms," noting:

“Once every three Mars years (about 5 ½ Earth years), on average, normal storms grow into planet-encircling dust storms, and we usually call those ‘global dust storms’ to distinguish them,” Smith said.

It is unlikely that even these dust storms could strand an astronaut on Mars, however. Even the wind in the largest dust storms likely could not tip or rip apart major mechanical equipment. The winds in the strongest Martian storms top out at about 60 miles per hour, less than half the speed of some hurricane-force winds on Earth.

Hence, the winds are not fun when trying to accomplish a task on the surface of Mars, yet they are not likely to destroy habitats or knock over a rocket.  This is not to pick on the film as much as to point out that we have a lot of things to worry about related to a Martian mission and fortunately this is not one of them.  That said, you should see the film and enjoy the show.

Image Credit:   This close-up image of a dust storm on Mars was acquired by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on November 7, 2007, around 3 p.m. local time on Mars. The full story from NASA is here.

Scary Images: Mars Storm on Earth?

While I already mentioned some of the devastating dust storms of the past, I was surprised to see red dust storms happening here on Earth right now.  The recent fires in Australia have created some massive dust storms off the coast of Western Australia that have to be seen to be believed.  Below is an image of a "red wave" provided by The Newcastle Herald. The paper noted that "The Bureau of Meteorology said the incredible sight of a 'red wave' at sea was created  as wind and rain caused the storm to dump the sand and dust it had taken from the land." 

You can find more images here, such as the two below.

Mars: An Endless Dust Bowl?

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.