Mars Still Experiences Landslides Like Any Active Planet

Mars has been known as a dead planet since the 1960s and 1970s because it is a world of cold and lonely deserts. Worse, it even looks like it has been cold and dry for billions of years, with a very thin atmosphere that makes any liquid water on the surface quickly boil away while the ultraviolet radiation from the sun scorches the red planet's surface.

NASA said that they have found evidence of a warmer and wetter past on the red planet, which means Mars could once have the ability to foster lives.

Also, the first close-up images from orbit showed features that resemble canals, rivers, and the possibility that a Martian civilization was dispelled. Subsequent studies also revealed that the Tharsis Mons region and Valles Marineris were formed from geological activities that had ceased long ago.

Landslides on Mars

According to Universe Today's report, Mars is still an active place because of the relatively fresh landslides in a crater near Nili Fossae. The image taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter' (MRO) was part of a larger image captured by Context Camera (CTX) on September 21, 2018.

The image shows an area of about 5 km (3 miles) across and from all indications, it seems that the landslide was caused by the unstable material in the crater.

According to geologists, the features were a result of the "mass waste processes" or also known as slope processes. It describes the downhill movement of rock and debris, which includes the large landslides, debris avalanches, and flows, rockfalls, and soil creep. Previous images of Mars have shown a full range of activities, like giant avalanches, tiny slumps, and single rockfalls.

In 2019, NASA also reported about a landslide in Cerberus Fossae according to an image taken by NRO's HiRISE camera. The image shows evidence of the landslide and mass wasting on Cerberus Fossae.

MRO's Context Camera (CTX)

MRO's CTX was designed to capture large-scale background views of the terrain around smaller rock and mineral targets studies by the other cameras of MRO, like the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM).

Moreover, CTX is also responsible for monitoring the locations on the Martian surface to determine possible changes that might happen in the future.

That means that it will serve as a CCTV camera to see any changes such as the landslide inside a crater wall in Nili Fossae. That area changed since it was last photographed because of the infall of material into the crater. HiRISE also monitored some changes in the area due to the similar infall of wall material on the other side of the crater.

The crater in the photo captured by CTX lies northwest of Jezero Crater, which is the landing site of the Perseverance rover.

Check out more news and information on Mars on Science Times.