A giant map under construction has revealed the location where the world could find ancient traces of water on the surface of Mars.
mineral deposits
According to Russia Today, using data collected over the past decade by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Exploration Orbiter, both of which are currently in orbit around the Red Planet, scientists have created the most comprehensive map yet of certain mineral deposits on the planet. Mars.
Sediments are watery minerals and are changed by the presence of water, like mud, and there is mud on the surface of Mars. However, a broader map of where it can be found gives a more comprehensive picture of the history of water on Mars and will help plan future exploration of the now dry and dusty world.
Hundreds of thousands of mineral deposits
Contrary to expectations, the map shows that wherever we go on Mars, we are bound to find something interesting.
Before the survey began, there were about 1,000 water-based mineral deposits known on the surface of Mars, but the new work, led by planetary scientist John Carter of the University of Paris-Saclay and the University of Aix-Marseille in France, has identified significantly more.
The new map shows that there are hundreds of thousands of aqueous mineral deposits on Mars, at least — especially in some of the older parts of the planet’s surface.
“I think we’ve collectively simplified Mars,” Carter emphasized. This work has now proven that when you study ancient topography in detail, not seeing these minerals is actually quite strange.”
Determination of the abundance of aquatic minerals
Studying these minerals in more detail could reveal how much water was historically present on the surface of Mars.
Not much can be extracted from the map of where the minerals are but, in another paper, a team led by planetary scientist Lucy Rio quantified the abundance of hydrated minerals as shown on the global map.