Measurement of the settling rate of atmospheric dust on Mars by the MAE instrument on Mars Pathfinder

fThe Materials Adherence Experiment (MAE) on Pathfinder was designed to measure the rate of dust settling from the Martian atmosphere onto the solar array of the Mars Pathfnder Sojourner Rover. The MAE measurements indicate steady dust accumulation at a rate of about 0.28% per day. This value is consistent with the performance of the lander solar arrays, which decreased in power at an estimated rate of 0.29% per day over the same period.