Emily Chan
Finally, the ice cracked open, and the gas leaked out of the hole for about 10 minutes until the frozen CO2 disappeared and left one of the spiders behind.
The recent study also revealed a new step in the Kieffer model. The ice formed within the ground as well, which caused the ground to crack open along with the ice. It could explain why the “legs” of the spiders follow such a zig-zag pattern.
Moving forward, the researchers plan to conduct similar experiments to figure out why the spiders develop in certain places on Mars and why there don’t seem to be any new ones forming.
The study was published in The Planetary Science Journal.
