Water On Mars: Does It Ever Rain On The Red Planet?

The NASA lander InSight recently took a snapshot of the flatlands of the Elysium Planitia and it showed some interesting drift clouds backdropped against a Martian sunset.

The picturesque scene is apparently a regular vista of the NASA robot that’s currently being used to listen to Marsquakes and drill into the Red Planet’s surface. Now, what makes the picture interesting is the presence of the clouds. On Earth, clouds often mean that precipitation happens which usually results to rain. If this is the same case on Planet Mars, does it mean that it actually rains on the Red Planet? Well, not really, said NASA experts.

According to CNET, the clouds on the photo are most likely water ice and are likened to ice fogs on Earth that don’t exactly precipitate. The Red Planet’s thin and freezing atmosphere often keep the clouds from ever falling on Mars, keeping the planet cold and dry.

"This precipitation most likely takes the form of frost. The ground is likely to be colder than the air (especially on cold clear nights), and so air hitting the ground cools and the water freezes to the ground as frost. Viking II (a Mars lander in the 1970s) saw frost on the ground some mornings," NASA said in a statement.

The search for water on Mars is one of the main objectives of various space missions. NASA, SpaceX and countries like China are all in the race to start a colony on the Red Planet in the next decade. As early as now, international space agencies are already assimilating how it would be like to live in the harsh conditions of Mars. However, finding a water source should be addressed first before anything else.

Mars is believed to have been filled with water once before it turned into a barren planet. Some studies suggest that a large dust storm in Mars affected how the planet produced water.

Reports said that dust storms probably absorbed heat and warmed up the atmosphere and made it impossible for the planet to form ice clouds. These dust storms caused gases that include water vapor to escape into space, leaving Mars dry and eventually making it inhospitable.