Fading winter on Mars shows dry ice effect on dunes in the form of 'beautiful patterns' – See pic

Image courtesy: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

New Delhi: The near future holds the possibility of a manned probe to Mars and scientists who are preparing for human domination on the Red Planet owe a lot to the numerous already-operational probes that are scaling the Martian surface.

NASA's and JPL's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been one of those promising rovers that has provided scientists with a huge amount of data to aid them in preparing for one of the biggest, most awaited missions of all time.

Armed with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, the MRO has once again delivered a masterpiece – one that shows us how dry ice has created a beautiful picture on the dunes of the Red Planet.

Captured on May 21, 2017, at 13:21 local Mars time during spring in Mars' Northern hemisphere, the image shows how over the winter, snow and ice have inexorably covered the dunes.

Unlike on Earth, this snow and ice is carbon dioxide, better known to us as dry ice.

As per NASA, when the sun starts shining on it in the spring, the ice on the smooth surface of the dune cracks and escaping gas carries dark sand out from the dune below, often creating beautiful patterns. On the rough surface between the dunes, frost is trapped behind small sheltered ridges.