All Questions
21
questions
1
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0
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97
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How does the wind behave throughout the day in Jezero Crater? (worried about Ingenuity)
JPL tweet links to mars.nasa.gov's Flying on Mars Is Getting Harder and Harder which explains that seasonal changes are lowering the density of the local atmosphere, presumably due to warmer seasonal ...
- 149k
9
votes
2
answers
167
views
Is there an atmospheric pressure model for Mars that takes different temperatures and seasons into account?
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Above are the pressure data from Curiosity's REMS sensor for the first 200 sols at Gale crater.
At about sol 170 Mars was at perihelion and a month later it was southern ...
- 7,535
4
votes
3
answers
471
views
How long would astronauts' footprints on Mars persist?
The Apollo astronauts' footsteps can remain theoretically forever on the Moon as it has no atmosphere. Mars does have an atmosphere but a very thin one. Its pressure ranges from 72 Pa (0.0104 psi) on ...
- 389
8
votes
3
answers
462
views
Might Ingenuity tip over?
While Ingenuity patiently waits for its preflight checks to pass, how likely is it that a wind gust could tip it over? How strong and how rare a gust? Those rotors have plenty of area. (Surely NASA ...
- 12.2k
17
votes
1
answer
2k
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Are launch windows to Mars avoided if they result in landings during dust storm season?
This comment suggests that orbit before descent to Mars' surface allows a mission to delay the landing if the weather conditions are bad. I think that Tianwen-1 will be the first to put a lander rover ...
- 149k
4
votes
1
answer
394
views
What if you tried to fly a kite on Mars?
I wonder what kite flying might be like on Mars, in one per cent the atmospheric pressure of Earth, about two per cent the Earth's atmospheric density and 38% the Earth's surface gravity. Are there ...
- 458
16
votes
1
answer
4k
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Would the national flag planted by astronauts on Mars need an upper horizontal pole like the ones on the Moon?
Due to the lack of an atmosphere on the Moon, the Apollo lunar flags had an upper horizontal pole in order to make them fully hoisted, looking like floating in the wind. Now Mars does have an ...
- 2,243
7
votes
3
answers
442
views
Fast spinning solar cells to clear Martian dust possible?
I've seen a fast spinning glass wheel used in front of a camera to clear away water, dust or ice.
Could Solar panels be made circular and spin to clear dust off of them in the same way may?
As ...
- 1
7
votes
1
answer
535
views
Does Mars have a known "prevailing wind" direction?
Venus has a general retrograde wind direction, and a few days of measurements from the InSight lander so far suggest steady winds from the north-west, but are there any measurements that indicate Mars ...
- 149k
7
votes
2
answers
679
views
How does InSight measure wind speed?
According to this answer to How can I find a daily record of the temperature on Mars? the weather at the InSight lander can now be seen online at https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/ This includes ...
- 149k
13
votes
1
answer
517
views
Are there microclimates with better weather conditions on Mars?
On Earth, a microclimate mostly refers to an area which differs from the surrounding areas in temperature or humidity.
And what about Mars ?
Are there places with atmospheric conditions that are less ...
- 7,535
5
votes
1
answer
116
views
Would landing on mars during a storm considerably increase atmospheric drag?
Any chance we could harvest all those dust particles for an significant improvement in aero-breaking capabilities or would it destroy most heat-shields?
- 658
8
votes
1
answer
397
views
How much does pressure on Mars change with weather?
A great answer about the Mars atmosphere and water triple point shows there is a region on Mars where clean liquid water slightly above 0°C can exist on the surface. I still wonder, though, how ...
- 55.1k
15
votes
4
answers
8k
views
What is the warmest place on Mars?
What is the warmest place on the Martian surface? What temperatures are seen there? (day, night, seasons, etc.)
I am asking about weather; not anything out of the ordinary such as a volcano.
- 251
1
vote
0
answers
246
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Was the telltale on the Mars Phoenix Lander used for meteorology? Why not a hot wire anemometer instead?
Reading about ping pong ball anemometers I discovered that the Mars Phoenix Lander had an anemometer of this design, and there are images and GIFs of it moving. When imaged from one or two different ...
- 149k