The Martian “spiders” are the result of the change of seasons on the red planet (Europa Press)
Since 2004, the Mars Express mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) has been compiling data on the Red Planet that has to do with its atmospheric composition, and three-dimensional mapping of its surface.
The ESA issued a statement in which they explain and show new images of an old discovery: carbon dioxide “Spiders” at the south pole of Mars. These peculiar formations are the result of the heating of CO2 ice deposits that occurred during the Martian winter. When the Sun begins to raise the temperature of the area in spring, the ice begins to turn into gas and puts pressure on the upper layers. The consequence is a geyser-like explosion that leaves dark residue in an area that can span from 45 meters to 1 kilometer wide.
This entire process creates dark, spider-shaped underground cracks in the ice that was not lifted by the explosions, and they are visible from above. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), another ESA explorer, managed to capture images that show them in great detail, while the Mars Express showed mostly the spots. Its presence means that there is carbon dioxide underneath waiting to be released, and reveals the behavior and effect of temperatures at the south pole of Mars.
They were first discovered years ago, but it was not until 2021 that experts managed to discover the cause of their formation. Since then, they have been carefully observed through missions to Mars, and now high-quality images have been obtained that reveal the fractures below the ground.
The phenomenon does not occur at the planet’s north pole, which continues to deepen the difference between both polar caps. Due to the characteristics of the orbit it maintains around the Sun, the southern part receives more energy from the star during its summer than the northern part during the same season.
“Spiders” spread over long distances in mountains and plateaus of colossal sizes. But most of those that could be observed are located on the outskirts of the region called “Inca City.”
It was discovered in 1972 by NASA’s Mariner 9 probe and received its name thanks to the similarity of the network of canyons and ridges to the Inca ruins. They are located in such a way that it forms a kind of almost geometric network on the Martian surface. It is located inside a crater 86 kilometers in diameter, so scientists suspect that the impact of a large meteorite caused the faults present in the area.
Their possible origins vary from magma that seeps between layers of soil, sand dunes that turned into stone, or formations called “eskers” that were the product of accumulations of material produced by ancient glaciers.
The landscape that can be seen thanks to ESA’s space missions contains more surprising elements, such as spirals in the ground and plateaus more than 1,500 meters high composed of hard materials, both caused by the erosion of wind, water or ice, as experts believe.
From ESA they say that “Mars Express has revealed a lot about Mars in the last two decades and counting. The orbiter continues to image the surface of Mars, mapping its minerals, exploring the composition and circulation of its atmosphere, probing beneath its crust, and studying the Martian environment.”
These missions and those carried out in the future will be able to reveal the hidden mysteries, climatic characteristics and particular phenomena of Mars, which are extremely different from any event that can be witnessed on Earth.
These discoveries can expand knowledge about the great variety of environments that exist throughout the universe, starting with the study of the solar system.