[astroflask]

The movement shown in this video[0] happened over the span of a martian day. Do not dismiss the winds of Mars, as they have also killed[1] a couple of rovers already.

[0] https://youtu.be/k7pfdFMVj-o

[1] They have also breathed new life on one of those (before killing it, yes) by cleaning the solar panels. I'm referring to the MER Rovers Spirit & Opportunity.

[nabla9]

As you said, that movement of was over a day and the camera was pointing downwards towards very tiny details of fine grained powder next to a wheel. You wouldn't notice anything in real time video.

The problem with Mars dust is that it's electrostatic and sticks to surfaces like solar panels.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/the-fact-and-fiction-of...

>It is unlikely that even these dust storms could strand an astronaut on Mars, however. Even the wind in the largest dust storms likely could not tip or rip apart major mechanical equipment. The winds in the strongest Martian storms top out at about 60 miles per hour, less than half the speed of some hurricane-force winds on Earth.

>Focusing on wind speed may be a little misleading, as well. The atmosphere on Mars is about 1 percent as dense as Earth’s atmosphere. That means to fly a kite on Mars, the wind would need to blow much faster than on Earth to get the kite in the air.

[astroflask]

Totally agree that "The Martian" would never happen in real life. Still, as other have pointed out, there are dust devils and "strong" winds.

[nabla9]

"strong" is called a breeze.

Strongest martian storm can have wind speeds up to 100 km/h. Because low air density, the force of the wind would be equal to "Fresh breeze" in Beaufort Wind Scale. (8.5-10.5 m/s) "Small trees sway, waves break on inland waters."