There is still so much we don’t know about Mars and these Martian spiders which have been imaged on its surface have long been a mystery to astronomers. The wild shapes are made of dust, but how the process by which they formed has long eluded scientists, until now.
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00:00There is still so much we don't know about Mars, and these Martian spiders which have
00:07been imaged on its surface have long been a mystery to astronomers.
00:10The wild shapes are made of dust, but the process by which they formed has long eluded
00:14scientists until now.
00:17Atmospheric conditions on Mars are much different than on Earth, namely the cold temperatures
00:21Mars endures.
00:22Those temperatures drop so low that carbon dioxide, which is abundant in the Martian
00:26atmosphere, can literally freeze.
00:28And since CO2 has no liquid form, that means it goes directly from a gas to a solid.
00:33Now laboratory studies have revealed that's exactly how these spiders form.
00:37Researchers built a small barrel chamber that recreated Martian surface conditions, where
00:41the atmosphere is some 95% carbon dioxide.
00:46Experts say that when CO2 freezes under the surface, it gets trapped.
00:49However, when it warms up again and immediately becomes a gas, pressure builds.
00:53The resulting explosion is what causes these spider-like formations, bringing darker subsurface
00:58material up with the escaping gas.