The Mars Express spacecraft took high-quality photographs of Mars’ north pole. According to the official, dusty sand dunes and blocks of ice are clearly visible in the images. Web site European Space Agency (ESA).
Astronomers say the Red Planet’s polar region is an area the size of France covered in layers of dust and water ice. It remains under a layer of frozen carbon dioxide for most of the year, but from time to time the carbon dioxide evaporates, revealing the hidden landscape beneath.
ESA noted that Mars Express images made it possible to evaluate the boundary between the Olympia Planum and Planum Boreum regions. The first is a vast sea of sand dunes, and the second is a flat area where Mars’ north pole is located. This region is almost unaffected by erosion and meteor impacts. The surface of the Planum Boreum is always renewed as dry ice melts from carbon dioxide.
The areas are separated by a strip of crescent-shaped rocks up to 20 kilometers wide. Planetary scientists stated that this relief was formed under the influence of winds.
Previous scientists I learnedWhere life may have existed on Mars in the past.