Scientists at the Physical Research Laboratory (<keyword id="20215884" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="PRL" source="keywords">PRL</keyword>) in Ahmedabad have not only discovered a trio of craters on Mars, but have also received the honour of naming them.<br /><br /><em>Several decades later, humanity might find itself roughing it out on Mars. Once we’re there, there’s no telling that we won’t get lost — it being a whole new planet and all that. But were one of us to lose our way somewhere around the <keyword id="22039720" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tharsis-volcanic-region" source="keywords">Tharsis volcanic region</keyword>, we might stumble upon a sign reading "Hilsa," followed by the faint strains of a familiar tune, the ever-popular Bhojpuri song Lollypop Lageli, drifting through the thin air.</em><br /><br />The team at PRL stumbled upon three craters in Mars’ Tharsis volcanic region, near the equator in the western hemisphere of the Red Planet. Among these, the largest, a behemoth spanning 65 kilometres, has been named "Lal Crater" after the esteemed Professor Devendra Lal, a former PRL director who left a lasting legacy in cosmic ray physics and space research.<br /><br />Adjacent to Lal Crater lie two smaller craters, each 10 kilometres wide. These bear the names "<keyword id="22039731" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mursan-crater" source="Orion">Mursan Crater</keyword>" and "<keyword id="22039732" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hilsa-crater" source="Orion">Hilsa Crater</keyword>," a heartening tribute to the <keyword id="22043228" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-towns" source="keywords">Indian towns</keyword> of Mursan (Uttar Pradesh) and Hilsa (Bihar). <br /><br />Mursan Crater honours the town of Mursan in Uttar Pradesh, the birthplace of Dr. Anil Bharadwaj, PRL's current director. Similarly, Hilsa Crater pays tribute to the town of Hilsa in Bihar, the hometown of Dr Rajeev Ranjan Bharti, a key PRL scientist involved in the discovery.<br /><br />This prestigious recognition by the <keyword id="20208943" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Astronomical-Union" source="keywords">International Astronomical Union</keyword> (IAU), the ultimate authority on celestial body names, marks a significant milestone for India's growing role in planetary exploration. The true scientific significance, however, lies beneath the surface. <br /><br />Using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) equipped with the powerful SHARAD radar, the team peered through the Martian crust. What they found beneath Lal Crater was a game-changer: a massive 45-metre thick layer of sediment!<br /><br />This discovery is a scientific Rosetta Stone, unlocking secrets about Mars' watery past. The presence of such a thick layer of sediment strongly suggests that water once flowed freely on the Red Planet, carrying and depositing vast quantities of material over time.<br /><br />"This discovery confirms that Mars was once wet and water has flown on the surface," said Dr Anil Bhardwaj, Director of PRL. "It is a significant step in unravelling the planet's geological history and potential for harbouring life."<br /><br />In other news, scientists have also detected water frost at Mars' equator for the first time ever despite the thin atmosphere. This frost appears on Martian volcanoes in the morning and disappears quickly due to sunlight. The frost is very thin but could be a water resource for future astronauts!<br /><br />Meanwhile, the PRL team's findings, published in the<em> Astrophysical Journal</em>, not only add valuable pieces to the Martian puzzle but also showcase India's growing prowess in space exploration.<br />

UP, Bihar towns on Mars? Indian scientists name newly discovered Martian craters Mursan and Hilsa

Pictures of Mars from India's Mars Orbiter Mision (MOM)

We Earthlings are all too familiar with frost. That crisp, white layer we see on cold mornings, which forms when atmospheric water vapour condenses and freezes on surfaces, is a signature characteristic of Earthly winters.<br /><br />But on <keyword id="47638" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mars" source="Orion">Mars</keyword>, where the atmosphere is about 100 times thinner and contains 10,000 times less water vapour than Earth, such icy phenomena are extremely unlikely. <br /><br />Against all odds, scientists have detected water frost at Mars' equator for the first time ever! Even more astonishing, this discovery occurred in a Martian region where frost was once thought to be an impossibility.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Space cameras peek at Martian peaks, unveil their frosty secrets" comment="subhead" text="Space cameras peek at Martian peaks, unveil their frosty secrets"><span data-til="noop">Space cameras peek at Martian peaks, unveil their frosty secrets</span></cmsannotation><br />The frosty revelations come from observations of the Tharsis region on Mars, which includes some of the solar system's tallest volcanoes: Olympus Mons, Arsia Mons, Ascraeus Mons and Ceraunius Tholus. Here, deposits of transient morning frost were detected on the volcanoes' summits, regions previously assumed to be too warm for frost to form.<br /><br />This breakthrough began with the detection of lighter, bluish areas on the volcanoes' peaks by the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) on ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). Initially puzzling, these light patches appeared consistently only in early morning observations during Mars' cold seasons.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="mars volcano frost top" msid="110933695" hostid="261" sizebytes="15376" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;A bird&amp;#39;s eye view of frost on Olympus Mons.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />Further investigation confirmed that these lighter areas were indeed water frost, as the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA's Mars Express also recorded these features. Yet, the origin of this phenomenon remained elusive until researchers conducted numerical simulations to replicate the microclimate of Mars' volcanoes.<br /><br />These simulations, similar to those used in predicting Earth’s weather but tailored for Martian conditions, revealed that the clear zones corresponded with conditions suitable for water condensation. They confirmed that these icy patches were the result of frost forming overnight under the right climatic conditions on Mars.<br /><br />The simulations also showed that surface temperatures on these Martian volcanoes are conducive to the existence of frozen water. However, the intense solar exposure at the equator causes the frost to dissipate rapidly each morning, explaining its transient nature.<br /><br />The frost layer itself is extraordinarily thin, just 10 micrometres thick, reflecting Mars' limited atmospheric water vapour. In terms of volume, the frost could cover about 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools if harvested. Though this seems substantial, it's a minuscule quantity compared to Mars’ total surface area. Nonetheless, it represents a potential resource for future astronauts, who could use it for drinking water or converting it into rocket fuel.<br /><br />This discovery not only enhances our understanding of Mars' current water cycle, but also offers clues about its past climate and potential habitability. By refining our knowledge of Martian weather patterns, we can better prepare for future exploration and continue unravelling the mysteries of the Red Planet.<br /><br />These findings were recently published in the journal <em>Nature Geoscience</em> and can be accessed <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01457-7">here</a>.<br />

Scientists have found frost on Mars’ volcano peaks, enough to fill 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools!

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists have known about Mars holes for years but an old image has reignited interest. </li><li>These holes could contain evidence of alien life on Mars and be a shelter for future astronauts.</li></ul><p>In case you hadn't heard, there's a hole on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-havent-we-been-to-mars-yet-2024-5">Mars</a> — multiple holes, actually. These holes, or pits, aren't news. Here's a photo of one from 2007:</p><div type="image" title="dark black hole on grey martian surface" height="246" width="491" msid="110917150" hostid="261" sizebytes="24096"></div><p>However, an image taken by the HiRISE camera in 2022 recently resurfaced on the University of Arizona HiRISE's <a target="_blank" href="https://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_075251_1775">Picture of the Day</a>, reigniting the conversation around these fascinating features.</p><p>Any excuse to talk about these holes is a good one because they remain largely mysterious and full of promise for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">future scientific missions</a>.</p><h2 id="02922bb5-b134-4beb-a59c-caadf4cc0a2f">What are those mysterious holes on Mars?</h2><div type="image" title="side by side images of holes on mars" height="1500" width="3000" msid="110917144" hostid="261" sizebytes="202650"></div><p>The holes, aka pits, are located on the flanks of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/martian-volcano-unlike-anything-on-earth-2017-2">ancient volcanoes</a> in Mars's Tharsis region, the largest volcanic region on the red planet and home to some of the biggest volcanoes in our solar system.</p><p>As far as scientists can tell, Mars is no longer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-close-up-photos-show-volcanoes-erupt-on-jupiters-moon-2024-2">volcanically active</a>. So there's no risk of these giant volcanoes erupting. But there is a possibility that residual underground lava tubes may still exist.</p><p>Scientists think these holes are "skylights," or places where the ground above the lava tubes has caved in and created a gaping hole in the surface, Brandon Johnson, a geophysicist at Purdue University who studies impact craters throughout the solar system, told Business Insider.</p><div type="image" title="Olympus Mons volcano on Mars from the Viking 1 Orbiter. The mosaic was created using images from orbit 735 taken 22 June 1978. Olympus Mons is about 600 km in diameter and the summit caldera is 24" height="947" width="1024" msid="110917143" hostid="261" sizebytes="101872"></div><p>If these lava tubes are anything like Earth's, they could be the perfect place for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-colony-volcano-hawaii-hi-seas-2016-1">astronauts to hunker down</a> during their stay on Mars.</p><p>"There's more than one of these [pits] on Mars that we've seen," Johnson said. "But they're really interesting because they're places where astronauts might be able to go and be safe from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-radiation-levels-spacex-nasa-exposure-2018-4">radiation</a>."</p><p>That said, it's unclear how deep these holes go or where they lead. We can only speculate from what we see on other planets, like our own.</p><div type="image" title="An underground lava tube is lit with a yellow lamp and a person stands inside." height="683" width="1024" msid="110917146" hostid="261" sizebytes="175578"></div><p>"On the Earth, these <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hawaii-man-fell-into-lava-tube-died-2019-11">lava tubes</a> can be large enough to walk around in, but they can also be small or the voids can be discrete or discontinuous," Ross Beyer, a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute, told Business Insider over email. "So these pits we see could open into larger caves, or they could just be isolated pits."</p><p>Beyer added, "There's no way to know what's in them until we explore them in more detail."</p><p>Besides hypothetical <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-man-will-go-mars-within-10-years-2023-2">human missions</a> that may, or may not, happen anytime soon, there's a far more important reason to explore these holes further.</p><h2 id="e80dfe2f-3842-4d28-964d-919f40576cf4">Is there life on Mars?</h2><div type="image" title="A hole in the grey surface of the moon with craters all around it." height="800" width="800" msid="110917151" hostid="261" sizebytes="24272"></div><p>These holes could be one of the best places to search for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asks-help-retrieving-perseverance-mars-samples-alien-life-2024-4">evidence of extraterrestrial life</a> on Mars because they may offer a protective, warm sanctuary from the planet's unforgiving surface.</p><p>For example, lava tubes on the moon can be as warm as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/nasas-lro-finds-lunar-pits-harbor-comfortable-temperatures/">63 °F</a>. That's plenty warm enough for life to arise inside. It's unclear if lava tubes on Mars would also be this warm — it's not a stretch to imagine, just a challenge to confirm.</p><p>Right now, the only information scientists know about these holes is what they can see from orbiting cameras in space. When it launched onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in 2005, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-orbiter-best-images-15th-anniversary-2020-8">HiRISE camera</a> was the most powerful telescope to ever leave Earth's orbit and has since transformed our understanding of the red planet, snapping over <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103523003731">80,000</a> images. But it's still limited.</p><p>"Unfortunately, there is a limit to the 'angle' that we can get from orbit to look 'into' these pits. So sometimes we can see 'walls' and sometimes we can't," Beyer told BI.</p><div type="image" title="Illustration of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" height="555" width="740" msid="110917148" hostid="261" sizebytes="20564"></div><p>The best way to explore below the surface would be to physically go inside by dispatching a rover to investigate the pit, Johnson said.</p><p>"There are missions proposed to essentially have a robot go on a line and drop down into one of these skylights and be able to explore what's inside of them," he said.</p><p>But to be clear, just because there could be life in these pits, doesn't mean Mars definitely hosts extraterrestrials.</p><p>"This is a good place to look, but we don't know if there's life on Mars at all," Johnson said.</p><p>In the meantime, to understand these mysterious holes as much as we can, "HiRISE and other Mars-orbiting spacecraft will certainly continue to take images of volcanic areas from orbit to try and characterize them better," Beyer said.</p>

A mysterious hole on Mars could be a jackpot of scientific discoveries, from extraterrestrial life to where astronauts could live

<p>Mt. Everest might be the tallest mountain on Earth, but it's nothing compared to the tallest volcanic mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons on our red cousin Mars.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Betelgeuse10">John Brady</a> at <a href="http://astronomycentral.co.uk/astronomy-the-size-of-stuff/">Astronomy Central</a> shows, in the image below, what this gargantuan feature would look like if it were on the continent of North America - it would completely cover the state of Arizona!</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="John Brady" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b3015e6bb3f7551d36bd2b-960/olympus-mons.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b3015e6bb3f7551d36bd2b-950-1107/olympus-mons.jpg" border="0" alt="Olympus Mons" /></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://astronomycentral.co.uk/astronomy-the-size-of-stuff/">John Brady</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Named for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Mons">Mt. Olympus</a> - the highest mountain in Greece - Olympus Mons towers 16 miles above the Martian surface - three times taller than Mt. Everest. This mountain is also <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/14849/olympus-mons-on-mars/">the largest volcano</a> in the solar system with a caldera at its summit that is <a href="http://www.space.com/20133-olympus-mons-giant-mountain-of-mars.html">53 miles across</a>. Here's what that looks like compared to Everest:</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b55a33eab8ea2f1f55d9aa-1200-307/screen shot 2015-01-13 at 12.43.22 pm.png" border="0" alt="olympus mons"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_mountains_in_the_Solar_System#mediaviewer/File:Olympus_Mons_Side_View.svg">Resident Mario on Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">Olympus Mons on Mars, the tallest planetary mountain in the Solar System, compared to Mount Everest and Mauna Kea on Earth.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>The caldera is easily visible as the small, central circle in the NASA picture below of Olympus Mons, the zit-looking mound in the upper center, which Brady used for his comparison image.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="NASA" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b31cba6bb3f7481536bd28-960/mars-olympus-mons.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b31cba6bb3f7481536bd28-1200-675/mars-olympus-mons.jpg" border="0" alt="Mars Olympus Mons" /></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://astronomycentral.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Mars-Olympus-Mons.jpg">NASA</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div>With a diameter of 375 miles, Olympus Mons is part of the largest volcanic region on Mars called the <a href="http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/atlas/tharsis-montes.html">Tharsis Montes</a>. The region spans 2,500 miles across the surface of Mars and contains 12 large volcanoes that are up to 100 times larger than any volcanoes on Earth.</p>
<p>Like the volcanoes that formed the Hawaiian islands, <a href="http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/atlas/olympus-mons.html">Olympus Mons is a shield volcano</a>, which is named after its shape, which resembles a warrior's shield. Shield volcanoes erupt lava that flows more easily than lava from some other eruptions, which means the lava travels a further distance before cooling and hardening giving shield volcanoes their distinctive shape, which you can clearly see in the NASA image below:</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b54f676da811f833360988-1200-1200/olympus_mons_alt.jpg" border="0" alt="Olympus_Mons_alt"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_mountains_in_the_Solar_System#mediaviewer/File:Olympus_Mons_alt.jpg">Image by NASA, modifications by Seddon</a></span></p><p class="caption">Olympus Mons on Mars as viewed from Viking 1 in 1978.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Eruptions, which could <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCOW9rHZu2Y">last for hundreds of years at a time</a>, and subsequent lava flows built a ridge up around the central peak of Olympus Mons, shown in the computer-generated view below. This ridge is estimated to be 6 miles high - higher than the tallest point on Mt. Everest, which is 5.5 miles above sea level.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="NASA/MOLA Science Team/ O. de Goursac, Adrian Lark" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b3e58c69bedddf28c9b87e-960/olymons.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54b3e58c69bedddf28c9b87e-1200-1000/olymons.jpg" border="0" alt="OlyMons" /></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.space.com/20133-olympus-mons-giant-mountain-of-mars.html">NASA/MOLA Science Team/ O. de Goursac, Adrian Lark</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Scientists estimate that the last time Olympus Mons erupted lava onto the Martian surface was between 20 and 200 million years ago - around the same time that dinosaurs roamed the Earth</p>
<p>While <a href="http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/oldroot/volcanoes/planet_volcano/mars/Overview.html">some scientists</a> think that this last eruption on Olympus Mons marks the last breath of volcanic activity on Mars, <a href="http://www.space.com/4509-martian-volcanoes-extinct.html">others suggest</a> this monstrous volcano is still active despite being dormant for millions of years. A scary thought when you consider the volcano's colossal size.</p>
<p>Olympus Mons is the largest planetary mountain in the solar system, but there's a mountain on the asteroid, Vesta, that is the largest mountain around. Called Rheasilvia, the mountain is a mere <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_mountains_in_the_Solar_System">315 feet</a> higher than Olympus Mons.</p>

You Searched For "Tharsis" and got 5 results

UP, Bihar towns on Mars? Indian scientists name newly discovered Martian craters Mursan and Hilsa

Ashmita Gupta

Pictures of Mars from India's Mars Orbiter Mision (MOM)

Scientists have found frost on Mars’ volcano peaks, enough to fill 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools!

Kunal Kambli

A mysterious hole on Mars could be a jackpot of scientific discoveries, from extraterrestrial life to where astronauts could live

Ellyn Lapointe,Jessica Orwig

Crazy Image Shows What The Largest Volcano In The Solar System Would Look Like On Earth

Jessica Orwig