Imaging Martian Dust

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has logged another first. Using its atomic force microscope, Lander has produced a 3-D image of a single dust particle on Mars, allowing scientists to study the structure of the particle in detail. At about one micrometer across-- one-millionth of a meter-- the particle is the smallest distinct object yet imaged off Earth.

Understanding the dust on Mars is important if humans ever intend to operate on the planet. Dust is everywhere, and is blown around by the wind. Huge dust storms sometimes totally engulf the world. For all of Mars' similarities to Earth. outlasting a monster Martian dust storm wouldn't be much fun. The dust in the atmosphere would cut the amount of sunlight reaching the surface, producing a dark, cold, forbidding world even at high noon. The strong wind would propel dust into any weakness in equipment. Any attempt to master Mars will have to come to grips with the dust. We now have our first image of that adversary.