Atlanta, USA (CNN) – Mars may seem like a dry, barren place, but the Red Planet transforms into an otherworldly wonderland during winter, according to For a new video clip released by NASA.
And in late winter in Mars’ northern hemisphere, the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter are exploring an ancient river delta that fed from Jezero crater billions of years ago.
It is dust that also leads to the formation of Mars’ climate, and dust usually heralds the arrival of winter, but the planet is no stranger to snow, ice and frost, and at the poles of Mars the temperature can drop down to minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 123 degrees Celsius).
There are two types of ice on Mars, one of which is the one found on Earth, which consists of water ice. The other type of Martian snow depends on carbon dioxide, or dry ice, and can be deposited on the surface: A few feet of snow tends to fall on the surface of Mars in its flat areas near the poles.
“There’s enough snowfall that you can snowshoe through it, and if you’re trying to ski, you’re going to have to go to a hole or slope, where the snow can accumulate,” Mars scientist Sylvain Becqueux said in a NASA statement. . .on an inclined surface.
So far, no orbiter or rover has been able to see snowfall on the Red Planet, because the weather phenomenon only occurs at night at the poles under cloud cover. Cameras on orbiters can’t see through clouds.
However, the Mars Climate Sounder, on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, can detect light invisible to the human eye and has detected carbon dioxide snowfall at the poles of Mars. The Phoenix spacecraft, which arrived on Mars in 2008, used one of its laser instruments to detect water ice from about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from Mars’ north pole.
Thanks to photographers, we know that snowflakes on Earth are unique and have six sides, and under a microscope Martian snowflakes probably look a little different.
“Thanks to the Mars Climate Sounder, we can tell these snowflakes will be smaller than the thickness of a human hair,” Becchio said.
Ice and carbon dioxide form on Mars and can occur far from the poles. The Odyssey spacecraft (which entered Mars orbit in 2001) saw hoarfrost form and turn to gas in sunlight, while the Viking spacecraft spotted frozen hoarfrost on Mars when it arrived in the 1970s.
At the end of winter, the accumulated ice can melt and turn into a gas, creating unique shapes, NASA scientists reported, with Swiss cheese, fried eggs, spiders and other unusual formations.
And seasons on Mars last longer, because the planet’s elliptical orbit around the sun means that a Martian year equals 687 days, or nearly two years on Earth.
