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Footprints left on the moon by Apollo astronauts will last millions of years. How long will the tracks left by the Mars rovers last?
Question
#129431. Asked by unclerick. (Feb 09 13 12:08 PM)
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1nn1

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Tracks Left on the moon will not stay there for as lomg as first expected:
Mark Robinson, an Arizona State University scientist and the principal investigator of moon walking equipment, said in a news briefing , "They won't be there forever,The moon is constantly bombarded with micrometeorites. These are very, very small particles that impact at very high velocities." There is erosion on the moon.Robinson estimates that these impacts occur at more than 33,000 mph (53,000 kph). These collisions will eventually wear down the tracks and objects left at the landing sites, he explained.
"Slowly over time, first the tracks will disappear - they will all be ground into and mixed into the soil," Robinson said. "And then, the smaller pieces of equipment will disappear, and eventually the descent stages will get probably blasted with a larger asteroid."
http://www.space.com/12846-apollo-moon-landing-sites-flags-footprints.html
It would appear that any footprints on Mars would not last long as the Mars Climate includes wild winds and frequent dust storms:
"The most dramatic version of Mars weather is the dust storm. They occur frequently because of the temperature gradient on the planet and because the surface is covered in light dust that is easily picked up by wind. Scientist feared that these storms would cover a rover's solar panels, making it impossible for long term study of the planet. Fortunately, the storms are interspersed by wind that simply blows accumulated dust off of the panels".
http://www.universetoday.com/14941/mars-weather/
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