A NASA satellite peered down on Mars and captured some strange lines.
According to the University of Arizona, these are natural tracks left by Martian dust devils. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has a powerful camera that captures rich imagery of the red planet's evolving surface.
Dust devils on Mars form the same way as they do on Earth, according to HiRISE, who recently posted the image online. This happens when the ground is warmer than the air. Cool air sinks down and creates vertically circulating air when updrafts rise. Dust devils on Mars are larger than those on Earth.
Dust devils formed the tracks, as opposed to boulders tumbling over the terrain, when comparing past images of dunes in the crater below. Dust devils can spin quite vigorously on the ground, leaving clear evidence of their travels.
Dust devil tracks inside a Martian crater. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona
A closer view, in color, of dust devil tracks inside a Martian crater. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona
Dust devil tracks were captured by a NASA satellite in the Eastern Aonia Terra area.
There are unnatural tracks on the ground on Mars. One of these machines, NASA's Perseverance rover, is exploring a dried up river delta in the desert planet's Jezero Crater, a place that once teemed with water billions of years ago. The Perseverance rover is looking for evidence of primitive life in the past.
The space agency noted in a post that if Mars hosted life, remnants or signatures of those organisms could be found in some of the ancient rocks.
The inhospitable surface of Mars is lifeless today. Dust devils are still flying over the plains and through the craters.
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