Science and Exploration

Spiders On Mounds On Mars

By Keith Cowing
Status Report
NASA
February 5, 2023
Filed under ,
Spiders On Mounds On Mars
Spiders On Mounds On Mars

This terrain looks like lumpy sediment on top of patterned ground.

The lumpy sediment is likely just loosely consolidated because it is covered with spidery channels.

This landform is uniquely Martian, formed in the spring as seasonal dry ice turns directly into gas that erodes channels in the surface.

This target was identified by citizen scientists at Planetfour: Terrains.

ID: ESP_046562_1005
date: 2 July 2016
altitude: 247 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_046562_1005NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

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