Scientists studying pictures from Nasa’s Odyssey spacecraft have spotted what they think may be seven caves on the surface of Mars.
The candidate caves are on the flanks of the Arsia Mons volcano and are of sufficient depth their floors mostly cannot be seen through the opening.
Details were presented here at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas.
Temperature data from Mars Odyssey’s Themis instrument support the idea.
The authors say that the possible discovery of caves on the Red Planet is significant.
The caves may be the only natural structures capable of protecting primitive life forms from micrometeoroids, UV radiation, solar flares and high energy particles that bombard the planet’s surface.
The spacecraft spotted what seemed to be vertical “skylight” entrances to caves below the surface.
There is a sheer drop of between about 80m and 130m or more to the cave floors below.
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