NASA planetary scientist Serina Diniega believes she has figured out what made all those first tracks (a.k.a. linear gullies) that have been showing up on photos from Mars lately. They look like snowboard tracks and seem to have been formed by something sliding down the dunes. Diniega figured it out.
Eventually, Diniega theorized the grooves could have been made by blocks of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, that naturally forms on the surface of Mars . . “We think some of this accumulation will compress down and actually form ice slabs and ice blocks,” Diniega said in a video posted to NASA’s website.
Now Diniega dreams of going to mars and riding these slopes herself.
“I’m looking forward to the day when astronauts can engage in a whole new area of extreme sports,” she said. “They could snowboard down these carbon dioxide-covered dunes on a cushion of carbon dioxide. You would just shoot right down those slopes, it would be amazing.”
Yes, and if our planet keeps heating up Mars may be snowboarders’ only option.
[Link: CTV News]
