14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a scientific study conducted using the Mars Express orbiter, it would appear that the climate of the Red Planet underwent periodic fluctuations in the distant past. The new study was led by experts at the European Space Agency.
ESA scientists say that these climate fluctuations appear to have occurred periodically, indicating that they were caused by the same underlying mechanism. Figuring out what that was could reveal more data about what happened on our neighboring world when it lost its liquid water and most of its atmosphere.
Planetary scientists believe that the climate changes occurred primarily due to the intricacies of Mars' rotation axis. Data to support this idea have recently been obtained by using Mars Express to study the Danielson and Kalocsa craters.
The ESA orbiter used its High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) instrument to image the two landscape features on June 19, 2011. Both are located in a region of the Red Planet called Arabia Terra.
The larger of the craters, roughly 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) across, is named after orbiter camera developer George E Danielson, whose work was essential for producing instruments capable of studying the Red Planet from orbit.
The 33-kilometer (20.5-mile) Kalocsa crater is named after a Hungarian town that contains a famous astronomical observatory. The feature is 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) shallower than its companion.
“Danielson crater, like many in the Arabia Terra region, is filled with layered sediments, which in this instance have been heavily eroded over time. Within the crater are peculiarly layered buttes, known as yardangs,” an ESA press release explains.
“Yardangs are streamlined hills carved from bedrock or any consolidated or semi-consolidated material by abrasive dust and sand particles carried in the wind. They are seen on Earth in desert regions, with notable examples in North Africa, Central Asia and Arizona in the United States,” the document adds.
European researchers will continue to study sediments and other deposits inside craters, using Mars Express. Their goal is to collect more data on how the planet's climate evolved over time, potentially revealing whether or not it will ever be able to support life.