Is it dangerous dust storms of the red planet?

The film "Martian" demonstrates: the red planet - a dangerous place. In particular, due to dust storms, sweeping everything in its path. But whether things really are and whether or not to be afraid of Martian sand storms?

For many years, science fiction writers have tried to imagine the life of man on Mars. Among them - and Andy Weir, who published the best-selling "The Martian". In this book, the adventure begins at the moment when a massive dust storm rips off a piece of equipment breaks down and astronauts camp.

Mars is really notorious for their powerful storms, some of which can be seen from Earth. Regularly researchers see in a telescope rather large dust storms that last for weeks or months. There are also "global" dust storms - they take place every three Martian years and cover almost the entire planet.

But Andy Weir was wrong when he made the dust storm to break the antenna and affect the life of astronauts. Martian storms are not capable of a variety of reasons. Even the wind force of these storms will likely would not be able to overturn or break the equipment. The fact that the Martian atmosphere is very sparse - its density is about 1% of Earth's. Therefore, even the wind, moving at a speed of 100 km / h could not become a destructive force. For example, to fly a kite on Mars need the wind, the speed will be several times higher than on Earth.

Of course, dust storms on Mars is not completely harmless. The individual sand particles are very small and a little electrical charge, so it's easy to stick to any surface. A good example of this - the rover Curiosity after traveling on the red planet. He ceases to be like himself and becomes a ridiculous lump of dust and sand. And this is - a huge challenge for the engineers designing equipment for exploration of Mars. If, for example, solar panels will be covered with dust, they will be less work and produce less energy. In "Martian" astronauts spend part of the day, wiping the battery and brushing sand particles. It looks like it could become a reality for future settlers on the red planet.

There is a chance that the global dust storm could envelop the whole Mars and block any sunlight. However, this is unlikely to happen: the heat from the Sun and is the force that moves the microscopic particles of sand in the air.

When sunlight falls on the surface of Mars, it heats the air around it. The upper layers remain cooler, begins the process of convection and fine dust particles together with the heated air rises. Not strong gusts of wind come together and merge, and they can become a global dust storm engulfed the entire planet. Therefore, even the most dense and dense dusty storm will briefly stop the sunlight - in fact, he himself will cease shortly after the fall of the temperature on the surface of the planet.

Martians future is not worth very afraid of such a development. It is better to prepare for a thorough daily cleaning of equipment in the morning.

Based on materials NASA.