Dust obscuration of Mars solar arrays

The atmosphere of Mars contains a considerable amount of suspended dust. Over a period of time, this dust will settle out of the atmosphere and deposit onto the surfaces of solar arrays, resulting in degradation of performance. This paper attempts to quantify the amount of dust coverage expected and the amount of performance lost, using available data on Martian conditions. Since this amount of dust in the atmosphere varies, the degradation of array performance could be between 1 and 50% over a 30 day mission, and between 22 and 89% over a two-year mission. Sand and dust may also be deposited on a solar array by saltation. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd