The color red and the planet Mars go together like the earth and his oceans or Saturn and his rings. However, our understanding of how the red planet got its characteristic shade can be wrong. A new hypothesis focused on ferrihydriet is detailed in one Study published on 25 February in the magazine Nature communication. The Ferrihydriet may have formed back when there was still water on the planet – possibly when it was habitable.
See red
In the decades that astronomers have studied Mars, we learned that the individual color comes from rusted iron minerals in the dust that the planet covers. At a certain point in the red planet 4.5 to 4.6 billion years of historyThe iron that was bound in its rocks reacted with water and oxygen in the air, similar to how rust arises here on earth. The resulting iron oxide was then demolished in dust and was spread over the planet by wind.
However, iron oxides Come in different varieties. Astronomers have debated for years about the exact chemistry of Martian Rust. Finding out how this rust forms is a crucial window in the environmental conditions of Mars at the time of rust. Closely linked to that environmental question is whether Mars was ever habitable.
Earlier studies of the iron oxide component in Mars -dust based on observations of spacecraft sessions found no evidence of water in it. This has led researchers to conclude that this specific type of iron oxide one Mineral called hematite.
[ Related: Europe’s first Mars rover will use nuclear-powered heaters. ]
Which iron oxide is it anyway?
This New analysis Combining observations of spacecraft with some newly developed laboratory techniques shows that the red color of Mars is better matched by iron oxides that contain water – known as ferrihydrite– and not hematite.
Ferrihydriet usually Forms quickly around cool waterWhich means it must be formed when Mars still had water on the surface. The Ferrihydriet has held this aqueous signature to this day, even though it has constantly ground and spread for billions of years across the planet.
While he tried to make a replica of Mars -dust in the lab with different types of iron oxide, the team from this study was a surprise.
“We have discovered that Ferrihydriet mixed with basalt, a volcanic rock, best suits the minerals seen by spacecraft at Mars,” Adomas Valantinas, co-author and postdoctoral researcher at Brown University, said in a statement.
Although Mars is still undoubtedly the red planet, this new finding changes our understanding of why it is red.
“The most important implication is that because Ferrihydriet could have only been formed when water was still present on the surface, Mars rusted earlier than we thought before,” Valantinas said. “Moreover, the Ferrihydriet remains stable under contemporary conditions on Mars.”
Dust in the (march) wind, but on earth
Previous studies have suggested that Ferrihydriet may be present in Martian Dust, but this research offers part of the first extensive evidence with a unique combination of space emission data and lab-based experiments.
In the studyThey used one Advanced mill machine To create a realistic replica of the Mars substance. The mill can create a grain of dust that is equivalent to the size of 1/100th of a human hair. The team then analyzed the samples with the help of the same techniques that a job will use spacecraft to make a direct comparison. This designated ferrihydriet as the best match.
“This study is the result of the complementary data sets from the fleet of international missions that explore Mars from a job and at ground level,” Colin Wilson, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Mars Express Project Scientist ,, ” said in a statement.
Mars Express’ analysis of the mineralogy of the dust helped to show how even very dusty regions of Mars have water -rich minerals. Moreover, the unique job of TGOs enables the same area to view the same area under different lighting and corners. This allowed the team to disrupt particle size and composition, which turned out to be essential for recreating the right dust size in the lab.
Other data of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter And measurements taken on the ground by NASA Mars Rovers Curiosity, Pathfinder and Opportunity also helped to argue for Ferrihydriet.
“We are eagerly waiting for the results of upcoming missions such as ESA’s Rosalind Franklin Rover and the Nasa-esa Mars Sample Return, so that we can investigate in more detail in what makes Mars red,” Wilson said. “Some of the samples that have already been collected by NASA’s perseverance and awaiting return to earth are dust; As soon as we have these precious samples in the lab, we can measure exactly how much ferrihydriet the dust contains and what this means for our understanding of the history of water – and the possibility of life – on Mars. “
However, the samples of perseverance are not expected Earth until 2040, pushed back from the original target of 2031. So for now we will still debate how Mars turned red.
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