Rain and Snow Detected on Mars
The Mars Lander has detected snow falling from the clouds on Mars, and evidence that rain once fell on the Red Planet.A laser instrument on the Lander that is used to study how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars detected snow falling from the clouds about two and a half miles above the landing site. The snow vaporized before reaching the ground, but now the scientists in charge of the mission will be looking for signs that snow has reached the ground.
The spacecraft has also found evidence that rain once fell on the Red Planet. It has long been speculated that the channels and gullies visible on Mars were carved out by water. The discovery of evidence of water came about by comparing soil conditions on Mars to arid area on Earth. In areas such as the Atacama Desert in Chile that get light and very infrequent rain, the soil has a unique chemical makeup and is characterized by sulfates on the surface and soluble chlorides deeper down. This is the same soil pattern found by the Mars Lander.
The finding means that Mars once had a climate with light rain or drizzle that lasted long enough to change the soil. The findings also indicate that the rain stopped falling billions of years ago.
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on 11/10 at 06:07 PM
