The Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) probes of the European Space Agency (ESA) have captured images on the surface of Mars of surprising formations known as “spiders.”
Some of the images were taken in a region of the red planet called the Inca Citydiscovered in 1972 by NASA’s Mariner 9 probe, and offer important information to better understand this phenomenon.
These figures that look like “spiders” They form when sunlight from the Martian spring hits layers of carbon dioxide that have accumulated during the dark winter months.
Sunlight causes the carbon dioxide frozen at the bottom of the layer becomes a gas which breaks the upper ice slabs on its way out.
The gas emerges dragging dark dust towards the surface as it advances and breaks through layers of ice up to a meter thick.
These emissions They rise in the form of geysers, then fall again and settle on the surfacecreating dark spots between 45 m and 1 km in diameter, in the form of “spiders” that are engraved in the ice.
ESA probes have revealed a wealth of information about Mars in the last two decades and their work on the red planet is still ongoing.
This teams They continue to capture images of the Martian surface, mapping its minerals, exploring the composition and circulation of its atmosphere.investigating beneath its crust and studying the Martian environment.
