It has been observed that the dark blast zone on Mars that was created by the impact of landing of NASA's Curiosity rover has faded – but not consistently.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has observed the scars multiple times over past two years. According to a press release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, some of the scars faded while others slowed and some even darkened again. HiRISE is one of six instruments used by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to study Mars since 2006.
Dark blast zones are created when Spacecraft like Curiosity land, blowing away bright dust, according to HiRISE team scientist Ingrid Daubar. She says "We expected to see them fade as the wind moved the dust around during the months and years after landing, but we've been surprised to see that the rate of change doesn't appear to be consistent."
NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UNIV. OF ARIZONA
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity's landing on Gale Crater in August 2012 was in truly dramatic fashion. During the final stages of its descent, the rover's sky crane (rocket-powered landing platform), lit up and blasted the dusty Martian surface, etching darkened scars there before detaching from the rover and flying away.
These follow-up observations will prove to be of help for NASA's next Mars mission, InSight, slated for launch in 2016. The InSight lander will be equipped with a probe which it will deploy and send a few meters into the Martian ground. The probe will measure the heat in the planet's crust.
So scientists feel it is important to understand such darkening of the surface. Darker surface will understandably absorb more light. Brighter surface indicates that more light is reflected, which again means that less heating occurs.
via Science - Google News http://ift.tt/1CwqD3O
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