NASA sheds light on the future with its various researches on Mars. Researchers often conduct research on the surface of Mars. However, it is sometimes possible to find clues to the past in the clouds in the planet’s sky. This time NASA is asking for help. Using its citizen science platform Zooniverse, the agency is urging people to help find clouds on Mars.
Space agency wants you to look at data to identify Martian clouds
A new project invites people involved to help NASA scientists understand why Mars’ atmosphere is as dense as Earth’s. The spacecraft MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), which has been studying Mars since 2006, collects various data.
What is required from the relevant people is to define the clouds in the data. This, in turn, helps scientists increase understanding of the atmosphere of the Red Planet. Mars has both water ice and carbon dioxide-ice clouds.
By understanding where and how these clouds arise, scientists aim to better understand the structure of the planet’s middle atmosphere. Helping NASA doesn’t require coming up with any complex scientific theory on the subject. Instead, scientists want you to join the Cloudspotting on Mars project and browse data to identify Martian clouds.
According to Zooniverse, identifying these clouds will make it easier to create maps of where the clouds are formed and determine what they are made of. This, in turn, will help us understand how Martian clouds form and affect the planet’s climate.
Martian clouds
NASA made a statement on the subject. “The air pressure is so low that liquid water evaporates from the planet’s surface into the atmosphere. But billions of years ago, lakes and rivers covered Mars, suggesting that the atmosphere must have been thicker back then.”
So, what do you think about this subject? Do you think NASA will see an impact in aid? Don’t forget to share your views with us in the comments!
33611
