Mars,Discuss Section a world that once gushed with water, is today 1,000 times drier than Earth's driest desert. Yet some ice still flows, slowly, on the Martian ground.
NASA's Mars-orbiting satellite, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, carries a powerful camera called the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) that captures rich imagery of the Red Planet's surface (it's the "most powerful camera ever sent to another planet," the HiRISE team explains). Recently, planetary scientists used HiRISE to snap an image of a glacier-like "icy flow," taken from 184 miles above Mars' surface. Frozen ice doesn't only exist in the frigid Martian poles.
"The surface of Mars is littered with examples of glacier-like landforms," Mike Mellon, a Mars geologist and co–investigator of the HiRISE project, explained online. "While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to the polar caps, patterns of slow, viscous flow abound in many non-polar regions of Mars."
SEE ALSO: NASA helicopter captures glorious view of Mars, with some surprisesThe image below was taken at 37 latitude, a "temperate" region of Mars.
The HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a detailed image of an ice flow on Mars. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UArizona Want more scienceand tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Light Speed newslettertoday.
This ice is moving slowly. It tends to form on rocky debris inside valleys and craters.
"As ice flows downhill, rock and soil are plucked from the surrounding landscape and ferried along the flowing ice surface and within the icy subsurface," Mellon explained. "While this process is gradual, taking perhaps thousands of years or longer, it creates a network of linear patterns that reveal the history of ice flow."
Even when the ice melts or evaporates away, the rock flows remain, leaving telltale signs of Mars' diminished, but still active, geologic activity.
Still, this ice is a far cry from Mars' days as a water world, when lakes sprawled over the land and streams ran through river deltas. Today, NASA's Perseverance rover is scouring the river delta in Mars' Jezero Crater for possible hints of past, primitive life — should any have ever existed.
Bestway Hydro
Happy Golden Anniversary! by Sadie Stein
Literary Paint Chips: Gallery 1 by Leanne Shapton and Ben Schott
Apple may have leaked the name of its mixed reality operating system
Best security deal: The 8
Green Car, Nightfall by Margaret Weatherford
Dear Sally Draper, Maybe Wait a Few Years to Read This by Adam Wilson
Crowdsourced Books, Twenties Muses, the World’s Worst Word by Sadie Stein
Amazon Prime Grubhub deal: Save $10 off orders of $20 or more
Why smut fics are so popular in the LGBTQ community
Amazon Spring Sale 2025: Best LG OLED TV deal
Introducing the 1966 Tee by Sadie Stein
Love Guy Fieri? Follow his new 'Flavortown' meme accounts.
Job Aspirations; Forgiveness by Lorin Stein
Best Fire Stick deal: Save $20 on Amazon Fire Stick 4K
A Labor of Love, Resurrected by Sadie Stein
Green Car, Nightfall by Margaret Weatherford
Bernie Sanders and Elon Musk fight about billionaires tax on Twitter
Inside the Murky Process of Getting Games on Steam
Google will delete inactive accounts this year
Cooking with Mary Shelley by Valerie StiversRedux: Collapse Distinctions by The Paris ReviewThe Genealogy of Disaster by Charif MajdalaniJim Jarmusch’s Collages by Lucy SanteFourteenth and Jackson by José VadiWalking with Simone de Beauvoir by Annabel AbbsFreedom from Sugarcane Hell: An Interview with Vinod Busjeet by Parul Kapur HinzenRoadrunning: Joshua Clover in Conversation with Alex Abramovich by Alex Abramovich and Joshua CloverStaff Picks: Comics, Keys, and Chaos by The Paris ReviewSkinning a Cat: On Writer’s Block by The Paris ReviewRoadrunning: Joshua Clover in Conversation with Alex Abramovich by Alex Abramovich and Joshua CloverDoes Technology Have a Soul? by Meghan O’GieblynCooking with Amparo Dávila by Valerie StiversQuiet Magic by The Paris ReviewLanguage’s Wilderness: An Interview with Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi by Amina CainStaff Picks: Comics, Keys, and Chaos by The Paris ReviewAll You Have to Do Is Die by Rowan Hisayo BuchananNew, Tender, Quick: A Visit to the Elizabeth Bishop House by Henri ColePoetry Is Doing Great: An Interview with Kaveh Akbar by Craig Morgan TeicherSentience and Intensities: A Conversation with Maureen McLane by Anahid Nersessian Chinese passenger EV exports surged 107% in Sept, Tesla and BYD lead the way · TechNode Huawei releases high Didi’s self Xiaomi 14 series set to run on self HoYoverse fails in attempts to bypass App Store’s 30% "Apple Tax" · TechNode Phone case image leaks reveal the design of Xiaomi 14 Pro · TechNode Tencent’s Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile made nearly $200 million in September · TechNode China approves 89 gaming titles in September · TechNode First China Alibaba to close research institute Luohan Academy after five years of operations · TechNode iPhone 15 series sees price fall in China · TechNode Geely and Baidu’s JV to deliver first model in October after rebranding · TechNode Temu has caught up with rival Shein in single TikTok launches a new feature to label AI China wins first e China sees livestreaming sales hit RMB 1.27 trillion in the first half of 2023 · TechNode NetEase Youdao releases AI China’s FAW becomes the first automaker to adopt in Porn apps disguised as learning apps on China’s iOS App Store · TechNode Chinese government looks to establish metaverse industry standards · TechNode
2.42s , 10133.484375 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Discuss Section】,Defense Information Network