No, there are no insects on the planet Mars (as far as we know) but new photos captured by his satellite European Space Agency (ESA) are causing the intense interest of scientists and astrophysicists as to what it is all about.
These black “spiders” photographed by the ESA spacecraft are apparently not real arthropods on the Red Planet but dark black thorn-like formations spotted near the “City of the Incas”, which is the south pole of Mars. This area was named so because of its special morphological features, reminiscent of the ruins of an Inca city, although it is officially called Angustus Labyrinthus and was discovered in 1972 by NASA’s Mariner 9.
But how are they created? You see, sunlight falls on layers of carbon dioxide that have been left there since the winter months. The light causes the carbon dioxide ice at the bottom of the layer to turn into a gas, which accumulates over time, then cracks as it tries to escape to the surface of Mars during the Martian spring, taking with it several materials.
Along the way, these gases expand, rise and burst from the ice sheets, carrying with them dark dust that erupts in huge geysers. As the black dust erupts from the ice, it falls into the upper layer of Mars, creating this spider-like pattern, of which their diameter can start from 45 meters and reach a kilometer. The images recorded by Mars Express Orbiter’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). of the European Space Agency reveal one side of these dark spots.
What gives the full picture of the black spiders of Mars is the CaSSIS (Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System) instrument on ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter can see in a wider range of wavelengths and reveals the spider-like helices spreading towards the out, just below the surface of the ice.
As for how the Inca City was formed, this is something that remains a mystery, however one theory says that it was sand dunes that over time turned into stone. Another says they are remnants of ancient Martian glaciers that left behind high walls of sediment as they retreated.
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