Christmas on Mars: ESA publishes beautiful pictures of snow and ice on Red Planet

The picture was published at the time of Christmas approaching, and also to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Mar Express ship entering orbit Mars.

It was almost time for everyone to feel anxious. And to mix the atmosphere to welcome this holiday, ESA (European Space Agency) recently announced an extremely unexpected image series.

These are pictures at Korolev - an 82-kilometer volcanic crater on Mars, with white ice as if Christmas is also coming on Red Planet.

Korolev crater on Mars.

Whether or not Mars exists in liquid water is still an unfinished topic. However, science can confirm that there is water in the form of ice on Mars, and the picture above is the latest evidence.

It is made by ESA Mar Express probe , thanks to CaSSIS technology (the advanced color imaging system of Mar Express). The picture was taken at Korolev crater - this area is year-round covered with a pristine ice.

Like Earth, Mars also has seasons in stages. At warm weather, the ice will melt. But it was different for Korolev, because its geographical characteristics caused the cold air to be trapped, so it could be understood that the ice covering it was like permanent ice.

To explain, the surface of this crater is very deep, up to 2km, but its cover is a layer of ice 1.8km thick and 60km in diameter. In terms of volume, it contains about 2,200 kilometers of ice, although it is unclear how much of it is Mars dust.

Photo of the spectrum of Korolev crater.

For those who do not know, there is air, even though it is super thin and not enough for us to breathe . The air blowing through the ice would freeze, causing the gas to sink, floating just above the ice. Because the air is a very bad heat conductor, it forms a protective layer that prevents warmth from the Sun from melting the ice.

This is not the only crater with ice. The same is true for Louth's 36-kilometer mouth on the far north end of Mars.

"We really feel proud of the image quality" - quoted Antoine Pommerol, a member of the CaSSIS data group.

Going back to the Mar Express, Christmas coming here is also the 15th anniversary of it entering the orbit of Mars.