# Martian car wash for Mars rover! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 4, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925 "2005-01-04T00:38:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/1 "2005-01-04T00:38:33Z")
From [NewScientist.com](http://NewScientist.com): [http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6824](http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6824) “NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity seems to have stumbled into something akin to a carwash that has left its solar panels much cleaner…” Rover team leader Jim Erickson: “These exciting and unexplained cleaning events have kept Opportunity in really great shape.” Whatever the process, it has taken place while Opportunity was parked during the Martian night. On at least four occasions over a six-month period… An inspection of the rover’s surface using its own camera has confirmed that dust has been removed from the vehicle… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/2 "2005-01-04T00:44:25Z")
I for one welcome our Martian squeegie guy overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/3 "2005-01-04T01:16:40Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293316http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293316](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293316http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293316) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/4 "2005-01-04T01:39:23Z")
Old news or not, this is still pretty cool. I wonder if maybe dust devils are periodically crossing over the rover. They’ve caught a few in photographs, mostly off in the distance, and their tracks can be seen in the surface. If there are enough of them, there’d be a nonzero chance one of them could randomly intersect the rover’s position and blow the dust off. With the atmosphere as thin as it is, maybe the phenomenon wouldn’t damage the rover otherwise. Or maybe it’s the squeegee overlord thing. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/5 "2005-01-04T02:50:12Z")
Sounds like a good subject for a Photoshop contest… ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/6 "2005-01-04T03:06:24Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > Sounds like a good subject for a Photoshop contest… And I imagine that the little elves at the [Weekly World News](http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/) (that bastion of journalistic excellence) are burning the midnight oil to bring us AUTHENTIC PICTURES! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/7 "2005-01-04T06:17:06Z")
It’s not that complicated…Dejah Thoris is a neatness freak. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/8 "2005-01-04T07:06:46Z")
You washed the rover, didn’t you John? Face it, man…she’s got you whipped. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/9 "2005-01-04T07:20:47Z")
LOL! Could it be some kind of negative ionic field that “de-staticizes” (Darn! Why can’t I think of the right word?) the dust, so it falls off? ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/10 "2005-01-04T07:21:49Z")
I forget to add: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![NotNow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7cd45c/32.png) [@NotNow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotNow)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/11 "2005-01-04T07:23:58Z")
what’s interesting to me is that the other rover is not experiencing the same effect, so whatever process it is thats cleaning it is localized (aka, not likely wind). I think it’s marvin myself, just the kind of task for a brain the size of a planet 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/12 "2005-01-04T13:39:12Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > You washed the rover, didn’t you John? > > Face it, man…she’s got you whipped. I’m busted! :o ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martian-car-wash-for-mars-rover/282925/13 "2005-01-04T18:58:32Z")
[One theory…](http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20041107) > [@Tikki](#): > > LOL! > > Could it be some kind of negative ionic field that “de-staticizes” (Darn! Why can’t I think of the right word?) the dust, so it falls off? Are you thinking of “degaussing”?