"Mars scientists and engineers are elated about a dust-busting blast that has struck the Spirit rover at its Gusev crater exploration site. Turns out that a martian whirlwind dubbed a dust devil likely zoomed over the robot high up in the Columbia Hills. That fleeting flyby effectively cleaned Spirits solar arrays, giving the robot a new lease on life. Engineers report that the rovers power reading quickly shot up to almost as high as when the rover landed on Mars over a year ago." LB Spirit Gets A Dust Devil Once-Over |