The High-Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera has sent a picture of Mars, which has surprised the onlookers. It is the spring season on Mars, and mysterious polygons are visible there. These can be seen in the picture from space.
A photo taken on March 30 shows white zig-zags-like crack patchwork on Mars soil at high latitudes. Sometimes a sprinkling of black and blue mist is also visible between them.
Spring has arrived on Mars.
Researchers at the University of Arizona, which manages the HiRISE mission, say that these zig-zags and coloured sprays represent spring on Mars. Researchers say that both water and dry ice have a vital role in carving the surface of Mars in this way at high latitudes. The ice in the soil breaks the ground into polygons.
The edges of these polygons crack and flake off in the spring as surface ice changes from solid to gas. This process is called sublimation. When this change occurs, particles of dry ice are pushed out of the surface of Mars. This causes deep, fan-shaped particles to spread on the ground. Darker particles sink back into the dry ice on the surface, while brighter marks make the land appear coloured. This can be seen in the form of white-blue stripes in the picture.
Bizarre ‘polygons’ are cracking through the surface of Mars https://t.co/KIy6FUUme9 pic.twitter.com/bhq0MJp80b
— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) June 28, 2022
The HiRISE camera is on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It started its mission in 2006. Soaring 250 to 216 kilometres above the planet, the orbiter has taken some unique pictures over the past few years.
