7.11: Snow on Mars
The Phoenix Mars Lander detected snow falling from Martian clouds in 2009. The snow was detected from clouds about 2. 5 miles above the spacecraft’s landing site. Data show the snow vaporizing before reaching the ground. Information from the Phoenix Mars Lander also confirmed that a hard subsurface layer at its far-northern site contains water and ice.
Planet Mars at a Glance
Characteristic — Current State
- Impact Craters — Yes; a very large impact crater Borealis Basin (largest known in the Solar System), 6,600 miles across
- Tectonic Craters — Yes, still active?
- Volcanoes — Yes, not active; One of the largest volcanoes in the Solar System; Olympus Mons
- Atmosphere — Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ), Low Pressure, Clouds, Snow, Dust devils, Dust storms, Slight traces of Methane (CH 4 )
-
Water — Both liquid & water ice
- Subsurface liquid water aquifers?
- 2% water in soil
- Erosion — Yes
- Dunes — Yes
- Polar Caps — Yes
- Satellites — Two; Deimos and Phobos
- Life — Unknown; we are actively searching for life