“Mars and life.” This inseparable phrase has tantalized scientists since time immemorial and likely will continue to do so until they definitively unravel this mystery and give the green light to life on Mars in any form. The latest buzz comes from the European Space Agency (ESA) with accompanying visual material.
The Mars Express probe has been operating on the “Red Planet” for over 20 years, continuously sending up-to-date data to scientists from its surface. It boasts impressive discoveries – creating the most comprehensive map of the chemical composition of the atmosphere, studying the moon of Mars, Phobos, in unprecedented detail, and successfully examining traces of water. Based on this, scientists have concluded that there were once conditions on Mars that could have been suitable for life.
It seemed that Mars Express was about to notch another sensational discovery in its portfolio. The probe captured and transmitted intriguing images back to Earth. These images appear to show hundreds of black spiders clustered in certain areas. However, that’s just the initial impression because the reality is quite different.
The photographs were not taken from close proximity to the surface, as evidenced by the diameter of these spots located in the southern polar region of Mars. According to scientists, these formations, or spots in the photographs, have diameters ranging from 45 meters to one kilometer. The existence of such gigantic spiders is at most in the realm of science fiction.
These are dark formations, structures that are somewhat remnants of geysers. They form when spring sunlight hits layers of carbon dioxide created during the winter months. Sunlight causes the ice from the carbon dioxide at the bottom of the layer to turn into gas. This gas then accumulates and bursts through the ice cracks above it.
The released gas shoots through the cracks in the ice in the form of high fountains or geysers, then falls back and settles on the surface. Since these geysers contain a mixture of rocks, sand, and similar material, this mix subsequently settles on the surface, creating these dark spots.
The presence of these “spiders” on Mars thus represents “just” a complex interplay of seasonal processes and geological formations on our neighboring planet. So, they’re not giant monsters akin to our earthly spiders.
