NASA scientists have successfully recreated the bizarre spider-like features seen on the surface of Mars, a breakthrough that could help unravel further mysteries surrounding the static Martian arachnids. The team used a specialized laboratory chamber to mimic the process by which carbon dioxide ice on the planet’s surface suddenly sublimates into gas.
The “spiders” are actually geological features known as araneiform terrain, characterized by hundreds of dark crack-like structures that appear on the Martian surface. When viewed from above, these tightly grouped deformations resemble a hoard of spiders scurrying across the landscape.
Researchers first spotted the spiders in 2003 using Mars orbiters, and since then, they have continued to pop up in satellite images. Initially, the features were a complete mystery, but scientists eventually determined that the spiders form when CO2 ice on the planet’s surface suddenly sublimates into gas.
In a new study published in The Planetary Science Journal, the researchers recreated this process using a wine barrel-size chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). They placed simulated Martian soil into the chamber and covered it with CO2 ice, then heated the mixture to replicate the warming effect of the sun. The team was left “shrieking” with joy when they finally succeeded in recreating the spiders.
The study also reveals a hidden step in the Kieffer model: Ice formed within the ground, causing it to crack open along with the ice. This could explain why the spiders’ legs have such a zig-zag shape.
The researchers plan to perform similar experiments to solve the biggest remaining mysteries about the Martian spiders, including why they form in some places on Mars but not others and why they don’t seem to be growing in number every year.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/spiders-on-mars-fully-awakened-on-earth-for-1st-time-and-scientists-are-shrieking-with-joy