Unusual Gullies and Channels on Mars
Explanation:
What could have formed these unusual channels?
Inside Newton Basin on
Mars, numerous narrow channels run from the
top down to the floor.
The
above picture covers a region spanning about 1500 meters across.
These and other
gullies have been found on Mars in
recent high-resolution pictures taken by the orbiting
Mars Global Surveyor robot spacecraft.
Similar channels on Earth are formed by flowing water,
but on Mars the temperature is normally too cold and the
atmosphere too thin to sustain
liquid water.
Nevertheless, many scientists hypothesize that
liquid groundwater can sometimes surface on
Mars, erode gullies and channels,
and pool at the bottom before freezing and evaporating.
If so, life-sustaining
ice and water might exist
even today below the
Martian surface --
water that could potentially support a
human mission to Mars.
Research into this exciting possibility is sure to continue!
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
