The Red Planet welcomes spring with polygonal markings

A mysterious phenomenon has sprung up on Mars as per a new image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera which is onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image showed the presence of polygon-shaped markings on the surface, implying the commencement of the spring season on Mars.

Mars has 4 seasons, which is almost twice as long as those on Earth. Spring lasts on Mars for more than 90 190 days, twice that of Earth, where the season blooms for 90 days.

At high latitudes, the image shows a patchwork of white zigzags cracking across the Martian soil, with sporadic sprays of black and blue mist fanning out between them. Martian spring, when underground reserves of subterranean ice butt up against the dry Martian surface, is known for its zigzags and vivid sprays, says researchers at the University of Arizona. They also added that “both water and dry ice have a major role in sculpting Mars’ surface at high latitudes. Water ice frozen in the soil splits the ground into polygons.”

According to the researchers, the polygons are a result of water ice that is frozen in the soil and splitting it apart. As surface ice sublimates or changes from a solid to a gas, the margins of these polygons become fractured and ragged in the spring. As a result of this change, vents of dry ice shoot out of the Martian surface, scattering black deposits of particles in the shape of fans.

The HiRISE camera rides aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began its mission in 2006. It has captured heaps of interesting and intriguing images from space over the past few decades. For instance, the orbiter caught a view of a group of boulders and craters that resemble the bug-eyed Muppet Beaker meep-meeping close to the Martian south pole in 2018.

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