XPost: sci.space.shuttle   
   From: washer_of_kegs@t-online.de   
      
   Tony Sivori wrote:   
      
   > kegwasher wrote:   
   >> Tony Sivori wrote:   
   >>> Would anyone care to speculate as to how long will the rover tracks   
   >>> will last in the Martian sand? Are they likely to be erased by the   
   >>> first sand storm? Or might they last for hundreds of years?   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >> what about the poor rover?  Will it blown away like dorothy in the first   
   >> dust storm to come along?   
   >   
   > I have read that the Martian wind is so thin that it cannot pick up   
   > anything much larger than a grain of sand.   
   >   
      
      
   >From the last pdf below it would appear that the wind speed varies from a   
   norm of 2 to 14mph with up to 50mph winds recorded.  The first pdf gives   
   the wind velocity required to pick up sand under those conditions.  Which   
   is roughly 4.5m/s.  So the sand would only be picked up on a relatively   
   windy day.  Doesn't sound like the tracks or rovers have much to worry   
   about.   
      
      
      
   http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2002/pdf/2022.pdf   
      
      
   http://helios.ecn.purdue.edu/~tatjanaj/NUCL497_2002/Report-7.pdf   
      
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