Abstract
The reality of living on Mars is closer than ever before. For years
science fiction writers and movie producers have presumed powerful
Martian dust storms capable of catastrophic events. In the movie, The
Martian (2015), a powerful dust storm rips an antenna off its base and
in the movie Martian Land (2015), an astronaut is blown away and carried
off by a dust storm. In reality, some of the dust storms are large
enough to be visible by telescopes on earth. In this article, the force
impact of a Martian dust storm is evaluated. Wind speed data from Viking
1 and Viking 2 Lander in 1976, the Phoenix Lander in 2008, Mars
Curiosity Rover in 2011, InSight mission Lander in 2018, and Mars 2020
mission Perseverance Rover are used for this study. Modifying
Bernoulli’s Equation based on Martian atmospheric density to determine
the wind velocity pressure in pounds per square foot. The stability of a
male and female astronaut in an EVA(Extravehicular Activity) space suit
is evaluated during the highest wind speed of a Martian dust storm.