Mars Pathfinder

Windsocks

Sol 15 and 19-22, 8am to noon.

Profile of 3 upper windsocks:



Top windsock:


These two movies show the IMP windsocks responding to light Martian breezes. There are three windsocks, each 10 cm (4 in) tall, mounted on the one-meter ASI/Met mast. Each windsock has a hollow aluminum cone 3 cm (1.2 in) wide and an aluminum-sheathed steel counterweight spire to ensure sensitivity to winds in the thin Martian atmosphere. In each movie the Sol and local Martian time are indicated as the movie progresses.

The first movie shows the top two windsocks responding to winds around noon on Sols 15 and 19-22. Wind speed and direction varies over the observations comprising this movie, but gentle breezes from the west, generally less than 8 m/sec (18 miles/hr), predominate. The second movie is a compilation of morning windsock observations from Sols 15 and 19-22. The top windsock is more likely to encounter strong winds than the middle and bottom units, but here the small deflections from vertical indicate low winds, generally less than 6 m/sec (13 miles/hr).

The windsocks were developed and built at Arizona State University, and tested in ASU's low pressure wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center.

Animation created by Bob Kanefsky of NASA Ames, using a Symbolics Lisp Machine.


Sol: A local day (in this case a Martian day, 24 hours 37 minutes). Landing day, July 4, was Sol 1.

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