Mars’ uniqueness The red colour comes from mineral ferrihydrite, which only forms in the presence of cold water, a new study claims.
Ferihydrite also forms at lower temperatures than other minerals that make up the surface of the appropriately named red planet, such as hematite, which was previously considered the main reason for its rouge color.
“This suggests that Mars could have had an environment that allowed liquid water to be maintained before moving from wet to a dry environment billions of years ago,” NASA said in a news release this week.
NASA partially funded the investigation.
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Mars’ unique red colour comes from mineral ferrihydrite, which only forms in the presence of cold water, new research claims. (AFP by Getty Images)
Researchers from the study published this week in Nature Communications analyzed data from several Mars missions, including several Mars rovers, and the findings were compared to lab experiments. NASA said.
“The fundamental question of why Mars is red has been considered for thousands of years and hundreds of years,” said Adam Valantinas, the study’s lead author, in a statement.
Valantinas is a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University and began his research as a doctoral degree. A student at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
He continued, “From our analysis, we believe that ferihydrite is everywhere in dust, and probably in a rock formation. We are not the first to consider Mars as the reason for the red, but now we can better test this using lab’s observational data that makes Mars dust and new experimental methods.”
This handout, released by NASA, shows Mars scenery in photos taken by a panoramic camera at the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in 2003. (via NASA/Jet Propulsion Research Institute/Cornell University Getty Images)
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Jack Mustard, a senior author of the study, called the study “an opportunity to open the door.”
“It gives us a better opportunity to apply the principles of mineral formation and conditions,” Mustard said, “and. “But even more importantly, the return of samples from Mars, which are currently being collected by the patient rover. Once you get them back, you can check and see if this is actually correct.”
This study shows that Mars likely had a cool yet wet and potentially habitable climate in its ancient past.
The atmosphere on Mars was so cold that it’s now billions of years ago to support life planet According to NASA, it is rich in water, and this is also proven by the ferihydrite in its dust.
Simulated Mars dust lab samples. (NASA/Adam Valantinas)
“These new discoveries point to a potentially habitable past for Mars and highlight the value of coordinated research between NASA and its international partners in exploring basic questions about our solar system and the future of space exploration,” says Geronimo Villanueva, Associate Director of Strategic Sciences for Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the study.
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Valantinus said that researchers “want to understand that the ancient Mars climate, the chemical processes of Mars, and that it exists not only in ancient times.”
He continued, “Then there is an addictive question: Was there a life? To understand it, we need to understand the states that exist during this period of mineral formation. What we know from this study is evidence of the formation of ferrihydrite. It differs from the environment in which air and other water sources and water can react to shattering. The symbolic red appearance of the planet.”
