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The curse and kiss of Martian winds

The curse and kiss of Martian winds
The curse and kiss of Martian winds Opportunity used her Pancam to take the self portraits above, in January 2014 (left), when her solar arrays was coated in the powdery Martian dust, and in late March 2014 (right) after the winds of Mars whisked off much of the dust from the arrays. As the Martian winds give, they also take away. Both a curse and a blessing, the winds of Mars have enabled the rover to live long and prosper. Just how dirty Opportunity is right now as a result of the fallout from the planet-encircling dust storm that churned up in June July, and August 2018, no one knows. But the Martian winds should start kicking up and blowing through Endeavour when the dust-cleaning season begins in mid-November. NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell / ASU