Science News Desk – The Curiosity spacecraft of the American space agency NASA has taken clear pictures of the Sun’s rays on Mars. These pictures have been taken under the series of Twilight Cloud Survey. The survey began in January and will continue till mid-March. Sun rays are also called twilight rays. They appear when sunlight shines through the space between clouds.
These pictures have been shared on the Twitter page of Curiosity Yan. This is the first time that the Sun’s rays have been clearly visible on Mars. These rays are most visible on Earth in hazy conditions, when light is scattered by smoke, dust and other particles in the atmosphere. These rays appear to meet at a point across the cloud, but actually run parallel to each other. Clouds on Mars, composed of fine fragments of both water and carbon dioxide ice, typically form up to 60 km above Earth. However, much higher clouds are visible in the new picture.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says that this may be one of the reasons for their sighting of the Curiosity vehicle. The Sun’s rays on Earth often appear red or yellow because sunlight passes through about 40 times more air than it does shining directly overhead in the middle of the day. This means that there is more scattering of light by the air. Because of this, the light that reaches our eyes often appears red or yellow.
NASA has been sending its missions for the last several years to explore the possibilities of life on Mars. NASA also wants to send astronauts to this planet. NASA has revealed that it is building a nuclear-powered rocket that could send humans to Mars much faster than conventional rockets. It takes 7 months to reach Mars. NASA has partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program. It will be tested in 2027. The nuclear-powered rocket NASA is working on could deliver a thrust-to-weight ratio 10,000 times higher than electric propulsion.