NASA Insights Show Clouds in Mars: Does it Rain on the Red Planet Too?

NASA -- The atmosphere in the Red Planet is filled with clouds. This observation can be seen in the photos that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) InSight lander has captured from the surface of Mars. From the flatlands of Elysium Planitia, the image shows that some clouds were drifting pass the location sometime after Sunset in late April of this year.

Mars is known to be a planet that is generally dry and cold. However, its atmosphere is filled with clouds as seen from photos.

Clouds are basically made up of water vapor. The occurrence of clouds in the atmosphere of the Red Planet has prompted many questions and doubts from people across the globe, especially to those that are dubious about humanity reaching extra-terrestrial grounds.

On Earth, water vapor eventually falls to the ground in its many forms like snow or rain. On Mars, However, the possibility for rain, even if its atmosphere is covered with clouds, is still an item of uncertainty.

"Our research observation shows that there is more water vapor present in the Martian atmosphere than there is at the high parts of the Earth," said Armin Kleinboehl, a NASA scientist.

The water present in the atmosphere of Mars is probably ice in its water state. It can be likened to the thin layer of haze or ice fog on Earth. The atmosphere on Mars is thin and too cold to present any chance for precipitation. While the Red Planet seems to lack rain or snow, there are other types of precipitation that occur on the said planet.

"Most of the time, the precipitation takes the form of the frost," NASA explains. "The ground in Mars is likely to have a lower temperature than that of its atmosphere. And when the precipitation falls to the ground, it becomes frost as it hits the air between the ground and the atmosphere."

A NASA Mars lander in the 1970s, Viking II, captured images with frost on the ground of Mars on some mornings.

Scientists from NASA pointed out that only a part of the polar ice caps of Mars is made of precipitated water. The remaining regions of the Martian polar caps are made of carbon dioxide as dry ice.

Nights are cloudy and mornings are cold in the Red Planet. Experts believe that further studies on this topic could aid in understanding and exploring the possibility of surviving or living on Martian terrain.