mlorrey - 1/8/2006 10:49 PMI don't think that the problem is as significant as claimed, otherwise the Mars Rovers would experience serious electrical problems every time a dust devil came by, and suffer from serious oxidation problems. The fact that the Rovers have lasted so far beyond their expected lifetimes demonstrates that conditions on Mars are not so severe as these scientists are trying to claim. This sounds to me like some absurd excuse making by those who are vehemently and unscientifically opposed to the idea of life ever having existed on Mars.
mlorrey - 9/8/2006 5:15 AMYou still haven't addressed my challenge to the claims of electrostatic ionization of CO2 by dust devils. The degree of charge needed to accomplish this would cause significant electrical disturbances to the mars rovers any time a dust devil came by, or especially, when one brushed dust off of the rover, as has happened. This should cause significant power surges, shorts, and overloads.Additionally, the amount of disassociated CO2 should also result in serious amounts of carbonic acid levels in the mars dust, which would cause serious etching, particularly on solar panels that dust settles on, and it and the peroxide should cause a lot of other corrosion and other forms of oxidation.Since absolutely none of these things have been observed by either Mars Rover, this theory is bunk.