14 DAY TRIAL // A new space image delivered by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and released by the agency this Wednesday brings into focus a massive sand dune resting on the surface of the Red Planet.
All around this alien sand dune is heavily fractured terrain that kind of resembles landscapes here on Earth. In fact, if it weren't for NASA telling us that this picture shows part of Mars' surface, some might be tempted to think it's a photo of our planet.
There's plenty of commotion happening on Mars
Researchers like to refer to Martian sand dunes as mobile soils. This is because they are forever shaped by local winds and have even been found to move about.
By studying their behavior, i.e. their patterns of erosion and movement, NASA scientists can learn about Martian winds and even what the weather is like on the Red Planet.
Then, the terrain adjacent to them can help better understand the changes the orb has been through over the ages. The same is true about the fractures in this image.
Thus, researchers suspect the terrain in this view of the planet either broke apart because of extreme temperature changes or maybe was once mud that cracked when it dried.
“The fractured ground is resistant to erosion by the wind, and suggests the material is bedrock that is now shattered by a history of bending stresses or temperature changes.”
“Alternately, the surface may be a sedimentary layer that was once wet and shrunk and fractured as it dried, like gigantic mud cracks,” scientists explain.
Mind you, there's even liquid water on the Red Planet
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in August 2005, has done a pretty good job studying the Red Planet since it started circling it in March 2006.
Its absolute best work: the discovery of dark streaks that come and go with the seasons, growing wider when temperatures increase and then shrinking or disappearing altogether when temperatures drop.
These streaks, photographed by the probe on Martian slopes, are believed to be evidence that liquid water sometimes forms and even flows on the Red Planet.
