The primary mission of the vehicle, which ran for three months, was to search for signs of ancient life. I have investigated the minerals, environment, and distribution of water and ice in the plain, which is part of the largest impact basin in the northern lowlands of Mars. The spacecraft continues to scan its landing site and sends the information to the orbiter, Tianwen-1, which orbits the planet.
Data obtained from the rover’s preliminary basin survey indicate that the Utopia Planitia basin contained water at a time when many scientists believed Mars was dry and cold.
changing planet
Mars was hot and humid billions of years ago, but something changed and turned the planet into the arid, icy desert it is today. The Red Planet entered this period during the so-called Amazonian era, which began about 3 billion years ago and is still going on.
“What is most important and new is that we found wet minerals at the landing site which is in the young Amazonian terrain, and these wet minerals are (indicators) of aquatic activities such as (groundwater) activities,” said the lead author. of the study, Yang Yang. . Liu, a researcher at the State Key Space Weather Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Academy’s Center of Excellence in Comparative Planetary Science.
The researchers analyzed data from the Zhurong rover on the sediments and minerals in the basin, as well as analysis performed by the rover’s various instruments on its surroundings. They find hydrated silica and sulfate, similar to wet minerals that have been discovered Through other missions studying different regions of the Red Planet.
The minerals were contained within the brightly colored rocks, and the colors helped show their composition. The researchers determined that these rocks at the landing site formed a layer of hard crust. This type of stratification can form when a large amount of water, either rising groundwater or subsurface melting, turns the soil into a hard crust once the water evaporates.
The discovery of this hard layer of crust, which is thicker than the hard crust likely formed by atmospheric water vapor found at other landing sites on Mars, indicates that Utopia Planitia had a more active water cycle tens of years ago. million years than scientists expected.
This adds to mounting evidence uncovered by Mars missions that the Red Planet has gone through cycles of wet, hot, dry and cold, rather than triggering permanent and dramatic climate change. Yang said that these climatic tides may have been the result of active volcanoes or influences from other celestial bodies.
fuel exploration
This discovery came as a surprise to the researchers because previous orbital observations did not reveal the signature of wet minerals at the landing site. That’s why the rover’s exploration is important, Yang said.
Utopia Planitia has been of interest to scholars because some speculate that the area once hosted an ocean.
“So the discovery of wet metals (his) Important indicators of the geological and hydrological history of the region and the climatic evolution of Mars”.
Yang said he hopes the rover can analyze the crater layers in the plain to find more information about the region’s water history.
The results also suggest that there could be “large reserves” of water in wet minerals or even ground ice, which future human explorers could use during manned missions to Mars.
“One of the most important resources for human explorers is water,” Yang said. “Wet minerals, which contain skeletal water, and ground ice could be used as an important water resource on Mars.”
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