The Agricultural Research Service produced scan electron microscope icon of what frost would look like on Mars . And it is n’t water watch glass that form this frost — it ’s C dioxide .
Because Martian geographic expedition and study is an expensive and time - consuming labor , it ’s helpful to repair the planet ’s conditions here on Earth . By analyze these diversion , researchers place up a baseline . When a fly , roving , or orbiting piece of equipment sends back data , scientists can check it against data they ’ve accumulate in the lab .
Agricultural Research Service scientists Eric Ferbe and William Wergin developed a technique for accept scanning electron microscope images of individual water frosting crystal . They then rent a look at the vitreous silica of atomic number 6 dioxide , which litter the ground and the air of Mars , and buzz off remarkably clear images .
They in turn inform NASA , and the two institutions collaborate by looking at the structure and the lite - dissipate properties of the crystals that make up a orotund percentage of the Martian polar ice caps . The crystals are petite , eight - sided thing about 1/100th the sizing of water watch glass .
But not only do these crystals spread across the airfoil of Mars , they bushwhack in giant bank deposit underground . They build up near the poles in winter and , when the spring come , melt down and burst from the soil , causing avalanches , changing the landscape of Mars . But despite their world - forge power , we ’ve only been able to repair the freeze that covers the ground in a o.k. layer of quartz as Martian winter closes in . An unbelievable feat , nevertheless .
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