ESA ExoMars Mission Finds Dust Devil Tracks, Chaotic Mounds in Mars [LOOK]

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a fresh image of Mars' surface obtained earlier this month by the CaSSIS camera aboard the Trace Gas Orbiter of the joint ExoMars mission.

The image depicts a section of Argyre Planitia, a plain in the southern highlands of Mars near the Hooke impact crater.

ESA, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter Found Ripples, Dust Devil Trails, Chaotic Mounds on Red Planet

The thin atmosphere, powerful winds, and vast volumes of dust on Mars combine to form spectacular shapes on the surface. Hence, this unusual-looking terrain is commonplace.

Dust devil trails, which can be seen in the photograph as bluish forms like thin hair strands, are dust swirls that occur on both Mars and Earth.

"This type of scenery is similar to 'chaotic terrain': a kind of broken, disrupted terrain seen across Mars where haphazard groups of variously sized and shaped rocks - irregular knobs, conical mounds, ridges, flat-topped hills known as mesas - clump together, often enclosed within depressions," ESA said in a statement.

"There are around 30 regions of chaotic terrain defined on Mars (see ESA Mars Express views of Ariadnes Colles, Pyrrhae Regio, and Iani Chaos for just a small sample); while this small patch has not been defined as one of these, its appearance is certainly chaotic," the space agency added.

According to ESA, the tracks observed in this image appear to run north-south, which might be the consequence of local winds blowing in that direction.

The hue of these forms comes from the combination of three filters used to create the image. People in charge of this new data processed the photo to highlight the mineralogy of the surface. So those dust devil tracks wouldn't truly show out in blue if you were looking at the countryside in person.

Digital Trends said that one of the equipment aboard NASA's Perseverance rover is dedicated to learning more about the weather on Mars, mainly its winds.

The MEDA sensor collects data on wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, and the quantity of dust in the atmosphere to understand the martian weather system better.

About ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

CNet said ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is a collaborative effort between ESA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. The orbiter's major objectives include researching Mars' atmospheric gases and surveying the surface for water while moonlighting as a scenic photographer.

TGO is part of the ExoMars mission, culminating in launching a rover to Mars later this year. The space agencies launched the spacecraft in 2016 and arrived in Mars orbit the same year, starting its mission in 2018.

Aside from delivering magnificent photographs like this one, Phys.org said this spacecraft also gives the most comprehensive inventory of the planet's atmospheric gases and maps the planet's surface for water-rich areas.

TGO is also expected to provide data relay services while waiting for Rosalind Franklin rover and the Kazachok platform to arrive on Mars by 2023.

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