Mars Spiders

Press Releases

NASA Scientists Re-Create Mars ‘Spiders’ in a Lab for First Time

Tests on Earth appear to confirm how the Red Planet’s spider-shaped geologic formations are carved by carbon dioxide. Dark splotches seen in this example of araneiform terrain captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2018 are believed to be soil ejected from the surface by carbon dioxide gas plumes. A set of experiments at JPL has sought to re-create these…