09 April 2004

Dust coats the Mars rovers

One of the main factors that determines the usable life of the two Mars rovers is dust. Mars has a very dusty atmosphere. Eventually so much dust will be deposited on the solar panels of the two Mars rovers that it will be difficult or impossible to fully charge the batteries of the two robots.

Shown here is an animated gif of the Sun dial dial apparatus mounted on the Spirit, the first of the two rovers, on Sols 3 and 90. Note that the spherical top of the apparatus is much darker on Sol 3, when the rover was still perched on its lander, than on Sol 90.

These images were made by Spirit's panoramic camera and are available by clicking on MARS PROGRAM SITE at www.nasa.gov.