Mars The Red Planet
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Polar Ice Caps Mars has permanent icecaps at both poles mostly made of solid carbon dioxide (dry ice). In the northern summer the carbon dioxide sublimes completely leaving a residual layer of water ice. It is not known if a layer like that exist below the southern cap since the carbon dioxide layer never completely disappears. There may be water ice hidden under the surface at lower altitudes. Current observations with the Hubble space telescope that the conditions during the Viking missions may have not been typical. Mars' atmosphere now seems to be dryer and colder then measured by the Viking landers. The Viking landers did experiments to find out if life exists on Mars. The results are contradictory, but most scientists now believe they do not show any evidence for life on Mars (However, there is still some controversy). Some people point out that only two tiny rocks were observed and not from the most favorable places. There will be more experiments on future missions. |