Red Snowflakes on Mars?

Whenever the stargazers of ancient Babylon focused their attention on Mars, they regarded its reddish orange glow as an omen of bloodshed and disaster. Looking more objectively at the red planet through powerful telescopes, modern astronomers have attributed its odd color to deposits of iron-rich minerals like limonite. Now two former University of Massachusetts researchers have proposed a new explanation of the puzzling Martian hue. During a recent meeting at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, Physicists William T. Plummer and Robert K. Carson reported that parts of Mars may be covered by a strange kind of tinted "snow."

Plummer and Carson came upon their theory while studying an entirely different planet--Venus. To determine the possible composition of the yellowish white atmosphere of Venus they decided to experiment with a little-known, foul-smelling liquid called carbon suboxide (C3O2). As the physicists increased its temperature, the compound solidified and underwent a series of color changes from pale yellow to orange, reddish brown, purple and a shade approaching black. Although the yellow vaguely resembled the tint of Venusian clouds, the range of colors was far more suggestive of the surface of Mars, which undergoes still unexplained variations in shading and color. Furthermore, spectroscopic studies of carbon suboxide produced results closely resembling those obtained from the reflected light of Mars.

Darkening Clouds. Could such a rare substance on earth be produced in quantity on Mars? Quite probably, say Plummer and Carson. The thin Martian atmosphere consists largely of carbon dioxide; it also contains a trace of carbon monoxide, which may be vented from Martian volcanoes. Under intense ultraviolet radiation from the sun, the two gases could combine into carbon-suboxide vapor. Indeed, the two scientists were able to simulate that very reaction in the laboratory. Their experiment also demonstrated that when the temperature is high enough, the vapor could solidify into a fine granular material, turn yellow and precipitate onto the Martian surface. Where would such a "snowfall" occur? Most likely at the Martian equator, where temperatures rise to 80DEG F. (v. --190DEG F. at the poles) and where odd yellowish clouds have already been observed.

For now, Plummer and Carson can only theorize about their strange Martian snow. But they hope that its presence may be confirmed in 1975 when NASA's Project Viking space probe is scheduled to make the first unmanned landing on the red planet, analyze its surroundings and radio its findings back to earth.

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