When you see Mars from afar, it’s easy to assume it’s just a red rock with no traces, but once you look closer at the surface, you’ll find some pretty interesting things. One of the strangest places scientists have seen on the planet’s surface is the so-called “spiders,” which appear as dark spots surrounded by worm-like disturbances on Martian soil. They have been a total mystery to researchers and since nothing resembling Earth appears, no one could explain how they formed. That is, so far.
A new study published in the journal Scientific reports explains how the experimentation led to the ability of researchers to reproduce the strange spider-like features right here on Earth. It turns out that spiders are likely to be a byproduct of the changing seasons on Mars. When the temperature changes, it can have a dramatic effect on the surface and what is inside, and in this case it means CO2.
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The scientific team began experimenting with things that are already known to exist on Mars, including CO2. Mars’ atmosphere is largely composed of CO2, and when temperatures plummet during the Martian winter, this CO2 cools enough to turn to ice. Any CO2 gel on the surface heats up when the stations change again and is converted directly from a solid into a gas by a process known as sublimation.
When CO2 sublimation was tested in a “Mars simulation camera” that included several granular substrates, the team found that dry ice that turns to gas actually generates a similar pattern.
“The research team drilled holes in the centers of CO2 ice blocks and suspended them with a claw similar to those in the arcades, on granular beds of different grain sizes. They reduced the pressure inside a vacuum chamber to the Martian atmospheric pressure (6 mbar) and then used a lever system to place the block of CO2 ice on the surface, ”explains a press release accompanying the document.
“In each case, once the block was lifted, the pattern of spiders had eroded by the escaping gas. Spider patterns were more branched when finer grain sizes were used and less branched when thicker grain sizes were used. This is the first set of empirical evidence of this existing surface process.
Therefore, if the surface is much warmer than it needs to be for sublimation to occur, the gas outlet from the dry ice will basically outline the surface material, forming spider-like shapes. But how would the surface reach this temperature if the seasonal changes are so gradual? Researchers hypothesize that sunlight can pass through ice and heat the ground below.
Everything makes sense, but without really seeing the process on the surface, researchers cannot be 100% sure that their theories are correct.
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Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games over the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, portable devices, smartphones and future technology. Most recently, Mike worked as a technical editor at The Daily Dot and has appeared on USA Today, Time.com and countless other web and print outlets. His love for reporting is only second to his gambling addiction.