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Martian winds give and take

Martian winds give and take
Martian winds give and take Opportunity used her Pancam to take the overhead 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 MER team has learned, what the Martian winds give, they also take away. While the winds have threatened her life, they have also enabled this ‘bot to live long and prosper. The team is hoping the winds will begin gusting through Endeavour, so Opportunity can live to rove another day. NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell / ASU