Science and Exploration

Fans And Polygons On Mars

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
May 23, 2022
Filed under ,
Fans And Polygons On Mars
Fans And Polygons
HiRISE

This is a place where fans emerge relatively late in the Martian spring from polygonal cracks owing to the process of sublimation.
Good lighting may make it possible to catch an eruption of material that will darken the surrounding area before fading over time and moved about by the wind. This scene is at the Martian South Pole.

ID: ESP_065786_0925
date: 8 August 2020
altitude: 247 km
Larger image

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.