Mars: beautiful, bare, and the planet.
The European Space Agency (ESA) recently released a picture of this red planet’s north east region and its gorgeous ice caps. The image coincided with all the Seventh International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration which took place a week (Jan. 13 to 17) in Argentina.
The image, taken by the Mars Express orbiter, highlights some of the processes that shape the planet’s face.
Mars northern polar cap, revealing the spiral troughs from the ice. Credit: Mars Global Surveyor/NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
A view of the snow cover at Mars’ north pole. Charge: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
Mars might seem like a dry, desert-like world devoid of water, but its supply is wrapped up at the sticks. Thick layers of water ice protect the Martian polar areas having an extra layer of carbon dioxide forming at the frigid winter season.
From the image, the Martian terrain peeks through the ice hockey, appearing as zebra stripes. This view highlights the contrast between the ice and ruddy Martian terrain.
The stripes are part of bigger spiral patterns which emanate outward from the center of the north pole. However, what causes them?
Scientists think this exceptional pattern is formed by katabatic winds, that take higher-density atmosphere to lower elevations. On Mars, these winds ferry cold, dense atmosphere from the regions’ glaciers down to lower elevations including castles and depressions.
The Korolev crater on Mars as observed by Mars Express. Charge: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
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At the exact same time, Mars is rotating (like the Earth) producing another cool phenomenon called the coriolis effect, which broadcasts as the spiral pattern we see from the image. (On Earth, the Coriolis force is observed in weather events such as hurricanes.)
Researchers are very interested at the ice deposits covering Mars’s polar areas. Not only can they include evidence that may tell us just how the red world ’s climate has transformed millions of years, but it’s additionally a supply of water for future human missions.
The Mars Express orbiter was developed to study the red planet’s surface processes over the years, documenting fluctuations in addition to track winds .
To this job the orbiter has lived up So far, expanding our comprehension of how wet early Mars was. Additionally, it sheds light on activities below the world ’s face.
The region of Mars outlined from the box, at Arcadia Planitia, is considered a tempting landing site for future human missions because of the availability of subsurface ice. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Knowing what type of processes are currently occurring at the rods will help inform future missions especially about the search for water.
Water is a precious commodity and if you can find other places thanks to a few recent data, NASA is expecting that future assignments can land a bit farther south, close to a region called Arcadia Planitia, and rely on its own water sources instead of having to go to the rods and hauling back water.
The article Mars’ magnificent polar ice caps seen in new image captures from orbiter appeared first on TESLARATI.
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