By Satyaki Paul
The Curiosity rover was sent by NASA to explore Gale crater on Mars. It landed on Mars surface on August 6, 2012. The aim of the study was to observe Martian climatic conditions and Planetary habitability studies in preparation for anticipated future Human exploration.
Around 2 years ago a research team first observed the clouds in Mars forming over the curiosity land rover sent by NASA. This year they started documenting the movement of clouds from the first moment they appeared i.e., January.
According to the team, the cloud is composed of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice). These evidences were further augmented by the Mastcam or the rover’s Mast camera.
Source: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover spotted these iridescent, or “mother of pearl,” clouds on March 5, 2021, the 3,048th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Seen here are five frames stitched together from a much wider panorama taken by the rover’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam.
The sunset causes these ice crystals to catch the fading light which glows in the darkening sky. This form of cloud was named as “Noctilucent” clouds. However, the cloudy days are very rare in the thin, dry atmosphere of the Mars. They form at the planet’s equator in the coldest time of the Martian year (2 earth years=1 Martian year). They hover around 60 km (37 miles) above from the surface of the Mars, as per Jet Propulsion Lab (NASA).
All these leads to a question that: Why study Mars? As an answer we can say that Mars is one of our nearest planets and exploring Mars would aid researchers in knowing about the momentous shifts in climate that can basically alter planets. It also lets us search for particular biosignatures, indicators that might expose whether life was abundantlypresent in the planet’s past or if it still exists on Mars today. Furthermore, it should be also kept in mind that American entrepreneur Elon Musk’s project of colonising Mars closely revolves around the habitability of the planet for human survival in case of Earth’s extinction. The author works as a Ph.D. Research Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, and the co-author of the book Anthropology For All (2021).