2023-05-09 11:15:16
The Chinese robot Zhurong, which has been circling the surface of Mars since 2021, has found evidence of recent liquid water on Martian dune surfaces.
This has been verified in a study by Xiaoguang Qin’s team from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG), under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Researchers from the CAS National Astronomical Observatories and the CAS Institute of Atmospheric Physics also participated in the study.
Earlier studies provided evidence for the existence of a large amount of liquid water on early Mars, but with the escape of the early Martian atmosphere during the later period, the climate changed dramatically. The very low pressure and water vapor content preclude the sustainable existence of liquid water on Mars today. For this reason, it has been believed that water on Mars can only exist in a solid or gaseous state.
However, droplets observed on the robotic arm of NASA’s Phoenix space landing probe show that salty liquid water can appear, albeit fleetingly, in summer at high latitudes on Mars today. Numerical simulations have also shown that weather conditions suitable for liquid water may briefly occur in certain areas of Mars today. Until now, however, no evidence had shown the presence of liquid water at low latitudes on Mars.
Now, however, the Zhurong finds fill this void. This robotic rover, which is part of the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission, left Earth in 2020 and reached the surface of the Red Planet on May 15, 2021. The landing point is located at the southern tip of Utopia Planitia, a great plain located in the martian northern hemisphere.
The images captured by the Zhurong in a terrain reveal peculiar features that can only be explained with the recent presence of salty liquid water.
This Zhurong photo of a small patch of soil (scale bar is 10 centimeters) shows a number of interesting features, indicated in the image, including a fragmented earthen block that, by all indications, was drenched in liquid water in recent times. (Photo: IGG/CAS)
The discovery provides decisive observational evidence for the existence of liquid water at low latitudes on Mars, where surface temperatures are relatively warmer and more suitable for life than at high latitudes.
The study is titled “Modern water at low latitudes on Mars: Potential evidence from dune surfaces”. And it has been published in the academic journal Science Advances. (Fountain: NCYT de Amazings)
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