In addition to “spiders”, probes on Mars have already revealed sand dunes, aluminum foil, organic matter, a lake and even a door | Sciences

Since the beginning of space exploration, it has been thought that the Red Planet could harbor signs of life, even if it was already extinct.

Over the years, probes on Mars have revealed sand dunes, aluminum foil, organic matter, a lake, and even a door.

The “spiders” were located in the south pole region of Mars, which is called the “Inca City.” It will be the result of ice that, with the change from winter to spring, releases carbon dioxide, forming channels ranging from 45 meters to 1 kilometer in diameter, according to records from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.

It was on the verge of A piece of aluminum foil Which agency scientists said may be part of a thermal blanket used to protect the robot before it lands on the Red Planet.

What is unusual, according to NASA, is that the material was found about two kilometers from Perseverance's landing site, which is on the planet as part of the space agency's Mars exploration program.

The robot landed in February 2022, in Jezero Crater, an area of ​​the planet that was previously a lake billions of years ago.

Also in 2022, a photo of a geological formation on Mars went viral on social media. Many users saw it as a 'door', while others ventured a guess as to whether an extraterrestrial civilization could create a 'passage' on the Red Planet.

The images were taken by the Curiosity robot, and according to NASA scientists, these images were a matter of perspective. They explained that the “door” was actually a crack, a small crevice between the rocks.

A year earlier, the same robot was discovered, also in Jezero Crater, an enclosed lake fed by an estuary, about 3.6 billion years ago. These were the first scientific results of Perseverance's work on Mars. A series of images of the site were transmitted via satellite. Perseverance is on the planet as part of NASA's Mars exploration program.

The study was published in the journal “Science”, and is the first since the landing of the “Perseverance” rover in February 2021. The Supercam camera made it possible to identify sediment layers that are considered “a great candidate for finding signs of past life,” as the National Center explained at the time. French scientific research.

Information about the discovery was published in the scientific journal Nature, but the publication did not reveal exactly the molecule or molecules that were found. The material was in Jezero Crater, where Perseverance landed.

However, according to NASA, strangely shaped rocks like these are not uncommon, whether on Earth or the Red Planet. These structures often form over eons as wind “carves” their features.

The image was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) in November 2022, and surprised scientists with its special appearance.

Although they are somewhat asymmetrical, the ridges are found in an area around irregular sand dunes, near a crater in Utopia Planitia, in the northern hemisphere of the planet.

The diversity of shapes and textures on the surface of Mars is something that always attracts the attention of scientists. The image of the sand dunes is part of a series of images from a project monitoring how the end of winter affects these formations on the planet.