The European Space Agency has said that the ‘scary smiley face’ image seen on Mars is actually
It is a storehouse of chloride salt. This picture has been captured by ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. ESA has written that rivers, lakes and perhaps oceans once existed on Mars. The deposits of chloride salt found there may help in tracing that past.
This discovery is of great importance. Finding deposits of chloride salt on Mars indicates that water once existed there, perhaps billions of years ago. It also indicates the presence of life in this area. This also shows that the climate of this area must have been habitable billions of years ago. Scientists think that such micro-organisms may be present at this place, which are safe in the harsh climate of Mars.
ESA shared the photo on its Instagram handle, which has received more than 9 thousand likes. Users have also made many interesting comments on the picture. One wrote, this was shot with S24 Ultra Pro Max.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter Mission was launched in 2016. It was proposed for 7 years, but the mission has been in operation for 8 and a half years and it is still working. It is a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos. Together they sent an orbiter and a lander to Mars. The orbiter is working properly, but the lander had crashed.