By Fresh Catteneo
The Martian area at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the California Institute of Technology experiences tornado storms every few minutes. Scientists who studied these swirling pillars of sand in Nevada measured electric charges of up to 4000 volts. They believe the voltage occurs as a result of friction between the dust particles rubbing against each other. These tornadoes are often called dust devils, and they form when hot air near the earth's surface flows upwards through a cooler pocket of air. On Mars, dust devils can be five times larger than on Earth.
But the three dust devils which simultaneously attacked the Viking Lander I were not strong enough to turn it over or even move it. It landed on Mars in 1976 in a mission to explore the Martian terrain and continued sending data to Earth until November 1982. There was also a Viking 2, and each Viking had an orbiter.
Another strange phenomenon I encountered on the red planet were big airbags which would pop out of nowhere and start bouncing down the cliff. As I was examining the Viking spacecraft I suddenly heard a strong rumble and then saw a strange cluster of giant balloons rolling straight towards me. I didn't have time to run away, so in a desperate attempt to save my life, I clicked on it to sit. To my great surprise I managed to sit on it but it kept on rolling and I soon found myself up side down with my head buried deep in the sand. Don't try this at home !I think that these types of airbags were used for cushioning spacecrafts' landings on Mars.
The ride on Nasa's little blue glider was much smoother, enjoyable and very recommended,
although there was a gigantic rocky grey asteroid constantly chasing me.
A view of Nasa's rockets bathing in the magical red sunset, made me soon forget all my worries.
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