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Opportunity Braves Martian Dust Devil

July 29th, 2010

Dust Devil Swirls Near Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Photo Credit/NASA JPL

NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has spotted and photographed its first Dust Devil.

The grainy black and white image was snapped by the rover’s camera on July 15, one day after a Martian breeze cleared Opportunity’s solar arrays of dust, producing a 10 percent gain in electrical power.

“That might have been a coincidence,” said Mark Lemmon, of Texas A&M University, a member of the rover’s science team. “But there could be a connection.”

Opportunity descended to a landing on the plains of Meridiani  Planum in January 2004.

The dust devil was the first spotted by Opportunity.

However, the Spirit rover, Opportunity’s twin, which descended into Mars gigantic Gusev Crater during the same period has spotted dozens of dust devils. The small twisters have been given credit for clearing Spirit’s solar panels of dust that would otherwise hinder the conversion of sunlight into electricity.

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