Well I suppose they think of it as like landing on an area of Earth that gets tornadoes. Mars does get small "dust devils" impossible to predict - which have the fastest winds of all, and though there is a storm season, individual dust storms also can't be predicted long in advance.
However, the winds on Mars are not nearly strong enough to do anything. The very strongest storms there are just strong enough to maybe move an autumn leaf. You can see that, because parachutes and the like that fall on Mars just stay on the same spot for years on end. And the rovers have flimsy solar panels and such like that are not damaged in any way by the storms. Indeed far from damaging them, the dust devils actually help by cleaning dust off the solar panels :). The panels work a little better after the dust devils go over the rovers such as Opportunity and in the past, Spirit, powered by solar power. (Curiosity of course uses an RTG and doesn't have solar power).
The dust is made of much smaller grains than on Earth, similar in size to talcum powder or cigarette smoke, or it would not lift off the surface. Also larger grains bounce long distances across the ground without going into the atmosphere, because of the low gravity - which is the main reason the sand dunes move on Mars.
It is because the air is so thin, a hundredth of the density, so kinetic energy same as for a wind of an Earth wind of a tenth of the measured speed.
This was an artistic license type decision in the book. Later on in the book he has a later storm that is much more realistic. I think the only major artisitic license.
See also
How realistic is the book "The Martian"?
However, the winds on Mars are not nearly strong enough to do anything. The very strongest storms there are just strong enough to maybe move an autumn leaf. You can see that, because parachutes and the like that fall on Mars just stay on the same spot for years on end. And the rovers have flimsy solar panels and such like that are not damaged in any way by the storms. Indeed far from damaging them, the dust devils actually help by cleaning dust off the solar panels :). The panels work a little better after the dust devils go over the rovers such as Opportunity and in the past, Spirit, powered by solar power. (Curiosity of course uses an RTG and doesn't have solar power).
The dust is made of much smaller grains than on Earth, similar in size to talcum powder or cigarette smoke, or it would not lift off the surface. Also larger grains bounce long distances across the ground without going into the atmosphere, because of the low gravity - which is the main reason the sand dunes move on Mars.
It is because the air is so thin, a hundredth of the density, so kinetic energy same as for a wind of an Earth wind of a tenth of the measured speed.
This was an artistic license type decision in the book. Later on in the book he has a later storm that is much more realistic. I think the only major artisitic license.
See also
How realistic is the book "The Martian"?
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
4.8m answer views110.3k this month
Top Writer2017, 2016, and 2015
Published WriterHuffPost, Slate, and 4 moreHuffPost, Slate, Forbes, Newsweek, Business Insider, and Science 2.0