Using dust storm as an opportunity?

What about sending a sample return mission to Mars that waits for a dust storm, enters the atmosphere when there is a dust storm, gathers dust out of the air and then returns to Earth? The probe wouldn't need to land...

Another idea could be to land on the Mars with energy stored and waiting for a storm. When there is a storm activities a started for a limited time. Or - better yet - activities would start when a certain intensity of the storm is achieved. The layer of dust would be thinner then and it might be easier to investigate at the ground below the dust lifted.

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Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

Windmills might work

Dust Devils
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 ... evils.html

You might get energy from the atmosphere here
http://www.rense.com/general7/mysterious.htm

A nice creature for terraforming?
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-05zzzzzzu.html

My initial thought was to use a dust storm for explorational or scientific purposes.

But such a storm also might be applied to get a protective layer of martian dust for habitats underneath it.

The storm would free the surface from a few micrometers of dust. Then habitats would be located on the freed areas. When the storm ceases the dust would fall on the habitats and could be covered and kept by a thin hull. Then the next storm would cause a second layer. And so on...



What about it?



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

Why return the sample, when you could complete many of the experiments right there on site? What experiments would be most beneficial, that we can't imagine completing within a future lander?