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the_grungydan t1_irrj2m1 wrote

Reply to comment by Applederry in NASA’s InSight Waits Out Dust Storm. InSight’s team is taking steps to help the solar-powered lander continue operating for as long as possible. by EricFromOuterSpace

I came here to ask the same thing. I'm clearly not any kind of expert on the topic, but it sure seems like you could equip a small blower and run a tube out to the end of it's arm. I know that space and weight are everything with regards to launch and so forth, but it almost seems like they're engineered to fail.

Edit: heck, reduce the complexity required by adding a blower and just give the good good spacey boi a feather duster.

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allforspace t1_irrx715 wrote

I'm not an expert either, but adding any kind of cleaning equipment to the solar panels would likely add multiple points of failure and a bigger source of power. Also, blowing any kind of dust particle on the solar panels could damage them and shorten their life expectancy.

NASA has certainly been looking at a solution for this problem and I wouldn't be surprised if they found out the best solution to be what is currently being done, which is let the martian wind clean up the panels.

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ClearlyCylindrical t1_irsntz4 wrote

Good luck building the pressure for the blower, it's hard to cpmpress gas in a low-pressure atmosphere. The dust particles are also statically charged and so will require a lot of pressure to work.

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the_grungydan t1_iru4tqi wrote

Solid points, for sure. Like I said, I'm sure way more educated-on-the-matter people than me clearly work on this. Just seems like a problem begging for a better solution than "guess it'll just get covered indust and die." And I'm certain they're working on it

Don't mistake idle conversation on an interesting subject for a formal debate. You'll enjoy life more. :)

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