MARS: 2021 - UNKNOWN LOCATIONS [Incredible Finds on Mars]

Mars, by distance, is the fourth from the Sun, and by size, the seventh planet in the Solar System. We have seen the unique landscape of Mars. The extinct Martian volcano Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain on the planet, and the Mariner Valley is its largest known canyon, and there is a huge number of impact craters. Mars has a rotational period and a change of seasons similar to the Earth. Nonetheless, relaxing under the palm trees, which don't exist here, isn't going to happen. The average temperature on Mars is minus 40 degrees Celsius. To this very day, we are receiving a huge amount of data, some of which we already want to share as early as in 2021. 1. Before you are the white clouds that occasionally appear in the upper layers of the atmosphere of Mars. And as we know, clouds do not form on their own. For their formation, something is required to help the water condense. For a long time, climate models simply could not explain how they could have formed at this sort of altitude. The process consists of what is known as meteorite smoke, whose burnt residue helps the water vapor condense and turn into small particles of ice. This discovery prompted the thought that the fine dust that rises into the atmosphere after the meteorite smoke may play a role in the creation of Martian clouds very similar to how glowing noctilucent clouds appear in the Earth's massosphere. 2. Another interesting study draws attention. The analysis of 200 dry riverbeds showed that deep, wide rivers existed on the surface of Mars for an unexpectedly long time. This is because there were oceans of water on Mars, which contain almost as much liquid as our Arctic Ocean. This makes the history of the disappearance of the water extremely strange and inexplicable. On the other hand, some planetary scientists believe that even in ancient times Mars might have been too cold and dry for the formation of oceans. Other researchers propose that there was water on it, but it was only able to achieve a liquid state during times of volcanic eruptions or after the impacts of large asteroids from the asteroid belt. 3. Another interesting discovery was the glaciers of the Red Planet, which do not remain in one location, but move down the slopes of mountains or across the plains, retreating and advancing as the temperatures rise or fall. These movements of the ice do not occur without leaving a trace on the surface of the planet. Very distinct landforms appear on it, such as fjords, drumlins or rounded hills and other objects, which make it very clear that at one time a glacier existed here. Thanks to images from the MRO or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, over a period of several years it was established that glaciers move in the form of massive streams at a speed of 300 to 800 meters per year. However, on the Tempiterra, located to the north of the Tharsis volcanic plateau, the probe managed to find what are known as eskers, rather low and very long hills, similar in shape to railway embankments. Eskers, unlike many other glacial landforms, are formed not as a result of the movement of the ice itself, but rather of the meltwater flows which spring out from between the edge of the foot of the glacier and the ground and carve narrow but long channels, tens of kilometers in length. 4. The so-called Noctis Labyrinthus or Labyrinth of Night is also worth pointing out. We have heard about it more than once. However, there is something that's brand new. Yes, this is an amazing place, but I still wouldn't want to go there. It turns out that in the past this canyon was one of the deepest gorges on Mars, which was filled with volcanic lakes. Studying the images of these canyons, researchers came across hundreds and thousands of dark lines, similar to those they had seen five years ago in the high latitudes of Mars. The appearance of these lines, judging by the images, led to large-scale changes in the appearance of the surface of the mariner valleys. According to calculations, their appearance indicates that the soil of Mars in this region 5. Let's turn our attention to what are known as the Sand Spiders of Mars. No, they won't eat the settlers for a snack. They aren't that kind of spiders. But some things we know for sure are that Mars, just like the Earth, has its own weather, system of air currents and climate. And these canyons or spiders, as observations have shown, are constantly increasing in size. What causes them to grow? Actually, Martian sand dunes and deposits of dry ice, the frozen carbon dioxide that cover the dunes, facilitate the formation of these landforms. In the summer and springtime, when the air and soil temperatures on Mars sharply increase, a portion of the ice warms and melts. As a result, the dry ice turns into carbon dioxide, a giant bubble of gas appears under the surface of the glacier, and the pressure in it increases. After some time it reaches a critical point, the ice bursts open, and the CO2 is ejected into the atmosphere of Mars through the fracture. Together with the gas, a massive amount of sand falls onto the surface of the dust-covered ice, which due to the high pressure, turns this air geyser into a sort of sandblasting machine, stripping away the surface. Therefore, the cracks through which the gas escapes, grow each season and turn into the giant spiders which can be seen in the MRO or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images. It's difficult to come to grips with the fact that 4 billion years ago, Mars probably resembled the Earth. That means, its vast expanses were most likely covered with a shallow ocean, perhaps several hundred meters deep, but not kilometers, as on the Earth. Clearly, there was water, there is already no doubt about that. However, billions of years passed, and Mars rapidly died, becoming cold and losing almost all of its atmosphere.