We are living in a time when anything and everything seems possible: A pandemic is ruining our lives, neighbouring countries are at loggerheads, and Kanye West just announced he will run for president in the US 2020 elections.
Well, how about alien life? New visuals recorded by the European Space Agency show a beautiful icy crater on Mars. It suggests the possibility of finding life on the Red Planet, and it could also become the source of water for future settlers.
The visuals, taken by the ESA’s Mars Express, show the 82-kilometre-wide Korolev crater on Mars. The crater is said to be 1.8 kilometres deep which means it is a large reservoir of non-polar ice on the planet.
The ESA says the Korolev crater is situated in the northern lowlands of the Red Planet, south of the large Olympia Undae dune field that partly surrounds Mars’ north polar cap. Based on their statement, this crater is filled with ice round the year and is in a ‘stable’ condition.
The air above the ice cools and is thus heavier compared to the surrounding air: since air is a poor conductor of heat, the water ice mound is effectively shielded from heating and sublimation,” says the ESA.
The space agency also said that the movie was created using an image mosaic made from single orbit observations from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express. The mosaic combines data from the HRSC nadir and colour channels.
