“Snowboarding on Mars?”

NASA research tells us that hunks of frozen carbon dioxide or dry ice can glide down some Martian sand dunes on cushions of gas similar to miniature hovercraft, plowing furrows as they go. Researchers assumed this process could explain one mysterious class of gullies seen on Martian sand dunes by examining images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Images from MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera show sand dunes with linear gullies covered by carbon-dioxide frost during the Martian winter. The location of the linear gullies is on dunes that spend the Martian winter covered by carbon-dioxide frost. By comparing before-and-after images from different seasons, researchers determined that the grooves are formed during early spring. Some images have even caught bright objects in the gullies. Scientists theorize the bright objects are pieces of dry ice that have broken away from points higher on the slope. According to the new hypothesis, the pits could result from the blocks of dry ice completely sublimating away into carbon-dioxide gas after they have stopped traveling. "I have always dreamed of going to Mars," said Serina Diniega, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Now I dream of snowboarding down a Martian sand dune on a block of dry ice."

Chemistry Group:Dasmany Deniz,Melissa Cruz,Marlenys Rey