QUESTION:  
When the Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars in July, what would
happen if a dust storm covered the solar panels with dust?  Would it cease
to give it power or can you somehow wipe it off?  

ANSWER from Cheick Diarra on Nov. 18, 1996:
We do not have any means to wipe the solar panels on the Mars Pathfinder
lander or rover. We do not anticipate a serious dust storm at the time of
our landing. The storms are seasonal. 

ANSWER from David Mittman, Rob Manning, and Tim Parker:
We expect the lander's solar arrays to be sitting some distance above the
surface, atop the airbag material that has been gathered beneath the lander
during the deployment operation. Of course, this still leaves the arrays
open to any blowing dust that might settle on them over time. We have
planned for some dust to accumulate on the solar arrays of both the lander
and rover and have factored that into our daily activities. There are even a
couple of experiments on both the rover and lander which are designed to
measure the amount and characteristics of the accumulated dust.

We also do not believe that dunes will be a problem in Ares Vallis where we
are landing. There is little sign of dunes in this area from the Viking
orbiter images that we have studied. Also dunes on Mars do not move very
rapidly according to most Mars aeolian process experts. The wind blows fast,
but at only 1/110th the density of Earth's it takes a long time to move a
dune. They think we will not have to worry much if we get the bulk of our
mission done within a month or so. Of course, we need to be prepared for
nearly anything.

--David Mittman, Surface Mission Operations Planner
--Rob Manning
--Tim Parker, Mars Pathfinder Science Team