Mars orbiters sent photos of a “winter wonderland” on the Red Planet

The Space resource published images taken from Mars orbit by the automatic interplanetary stations Mars Express of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, depicting Martian slopes that appear to be powdered with snow. In fact, this “snow” is different from that on Earth, and the images were taken in the summer, when the temperature in the shooting region drops to -125 °C.

Image source: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

The images were taken by Mars Express in June 2022 and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in September 2022 during the solstice in the Australe Scopuli region of Mars near the south pole.

Image source: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

What looks like a beautiful, pastoral winter wonderland in these images actually reflects the dynamic process where sunlight heats carbon dioxide ice and it changes from a solid to a gas. As this process occurs, pockets of carbon dioxide form inside the ice.

Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Under the influence of increasing pressure, the ice crust collapses and gas eruptions occur, as a result of which dark dust located under the ice is thrown tens of meters into the air. Wind blows dust across the surface of Mars, forming intricate patterns. Funnels from emissions of sublimated dry ice when photographed from space resemble images of spiders. The dust is found deep under the ice, but due to seasonal temperature changes, some of it ends up on the surface of Mars.