Did NASA’s Mars rover ‘Viking 1’ land on tsunami deposits? | sorae portal site to the universe

[▲ Surroundings of the landing site taken by the lander of NASA’s Mars rover “Viking 1” (Credit: NASA/JPL)]

of the Planetary Science Institute (PSI)Alexis RodriguezThe research team led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)“Viking 1”‘s lander landed on sediments carried by a giant tsunami (Megatsunami) from an ancient Mars impact, according to a study.

Launched to detect traces of life on Mars, the Viking 1 lander landed on Chryse Planitia in the northern hemisphere of Mars on July 20, 1976. As a result, no life or traces of life were found, but analysis of samples collected from the ground surface and observation of the thin, dry atmosphere, which is mainly composed of carbon dioxide, were conducted, and the lander was operated until November 1982. rice field.

Viking 1’s landing site was located in the lower Maja Valles to the southwest, likely formed by massive flooding, but images sent after landing show features of a river. No terrain was found, and it is believed that the lander landed on a layer of rock-scattered sediment several meters thick. Although it was speculated that the deposits covering the landing site were eruptions and lava fragments from the impact, the origin of the deposits remains a mystery as there are few craters and lava fragments in the vicinity. It is said that it was left.

[▲ A diagram showing the history from the formation of the Pole Crater 3.4 billion years ago and the occurrence of the tsunami to the present. Viking 1's landing site (indicated by the US flag in Figure f) appears to be covered in sediment (light gray) carried by the tsunami that ran up (Credit: Rodriguez et al.)]

[▲ A diagram showing the history from the formation of the Pole Crater 3.4 billion years ago and the occurrence of the tsunami to the present. Viking 1’s landing site (indicated by the US flag in Figure f) appears to be covered in sediment (light gray) carried by the tsunami that ran up (Credit: Rodriguez et al.)]

NASA’s Mars rover“Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)”Using images and simulations taken in , the research team concluded that the deposits at the Viking 1 landing site were derived from a huge tsunami that occurred 3.4 billion years ago. . It is estimated that this tsunami was caused by the collision of an asteroid with a diameter of 3 km into the ocean that covered the northern hemisphere of Mars at that time.

The simulation showed that the tsunami was about 250 m high, and it is believed that the rocks carried by the tsunami that ran up the slope were deposited at the Viking 1 landing site.The research team has also identified a crater with a diameter of 111 km, which is believed to have been formed by the collision, and will be officially announced in August 2022.“Paul Crater”(Pohl, named after the American science fiction writer Frederick Pohl).

Rodriguez, who led the research team, announced in 2016 research results that two huge tsunamis occurred on Mars at intervals of several million years 3.4 billion years ago. The research team believes that the collision that formed the pole crater was the cause of the first tsunami, as part of the pole crater seems to have been affected by another tsunami. It is possible that hydrothermal activity continued for tens of thousands of years at the bottom of the crater, maintaining an environment rich in energy and nutrients.

Rodriguez commented that he would like to identify a relatively small area that could provide information on the entire history of the Mars ocean, in anticipation of future missions by Mars rovers.

Source

  • Image Credit: NASA/JPL, Rodriguez et al.
  • PSI – NASA May Have Landed on a Martian Megatsunami Deposit Nearly 50 Years Ago
  • Rodríguez et al. – Evidence of an oceanic impact and megatsunami sedimentation in Chryse Planitia, Mars (Nature)

Text / Takehiro Matsumura

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