The red planet continues to offer us reasons to respond to its call and explore it in the coming decades
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It is true that we can observe Mars from Earth, but to obtain images as curious as the one we will show you below it is necessary to go to one of the NASA missions. In this case, we will have to move to the orbit of the red planet and scrutinize its surface through the eyes of the instruments that monitor Mars from the heights.
The explanation for the hole found on Mars
The University of Arizona has published the image that you can see below these lines and that belongs to a region within Arsia Mons, one of the three large Martian volcanoes. Thanks to the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera we have been able to discover a hole what’s wrong with it meters in diameter and? sits on one of Mars’ sleeping volcanoes.
The region Where these volcanoes are located is called Tharsis and it is an extensive plain located far above the rest of the planet, with a average 10 kilometers high. In the past, volcanic activity was common in the region and it seems that this has a lot to do with this type of well found by the NASA spacecraft.
Image obtained by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
On certain occasions, scientists have associated these holes with openings that lead to tunnels created by volcanic activity, although on this occasion, since a lateral wall has also been observed In another image captured from space, which you can see below these lines, this would not be a convincing explanation.
We would then be talking about a kind of well and not the entrance to a tunnel, cave or cavern. These wells, which are also found on Hawaiian volcanoes, are often called pit craters and they would be depressions formed by the surface collapse that is located above a void or an underground chamber.
Image showing a side wall in the hole found in Arsia Mons
This, by the way, This does not mean that there are no underground tunnels on Mars. created from volcanic activity. For the moment, and we imagine that until a colony of astronauts reach the surface of the red planet, the caves in the subsoil of Mars they will continue to be quite a mystery.
In fact, they could be the perfect place to explore the planet and serve as first base for a future settlement. The future of space exploration is still very promising and that is why these types of findings invite us to seek more information about a planet that, who knows, could be our home in several centuries.
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Founder Dwight D. Eisenhower Foundation date 07-29-1958 Alternative name National Aeronautics and Space Administration Number of employees 18000
