Mars’ distinctive Red color comes from the mineral ferrihydrite, which is only in the presence of cool water, a new study.
Ferrihydriet also forms at a lower temperature than other minerals that form the surface of the appropriate red planet, such as hematite, which was previously considered the main reason for his rouge tint.
“This suggests that Mars may have had an environment that is able to maintain liquid water before switching from a wet environment billions years ago,” Nasa said in a press release this week.
NASA has partially financed the study.
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The distinctive red color of Mars comes from the mineral ferrihydrite, which is only in the presence of cool water, a new study. (AFP via Getty Images)
Researchers in the study, published this week in Nature Communications, analyzed data from different Mars missions, including different Mars Rovers, and the findings were compared with laboratory experiments “in which the team tested how light interacts with ferrihydriet particles and other minerals under simulated Martian conditions,” Said Nasa.
“The fundamental question why Mars is red has been taken into account for hundreds for thousands of years,” said the main author of the Adam Valantinas study in a statement.
Valantinas is a postgraduate fellow at Brown University that started the study as Ph.D. Student at the University of Bern of Switzerland.
He continued: “From our analysis we believe that ferrihydriet is everywhere in the dust and probably also in the rock formations. We are not the first to consider Ferrihydriet as the reason why Mars is red, but we can now better test this with the help of observation data and new laboratory methods to make a mars -dust in the laboratory.”
In this hand -out -out by NASA, a Mars landscape can be seen in a photo made by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in 2003. (NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Cornell University via Getty images)
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Senior author of the study, Jack Mustard, called the study a ‘door opening opportunity’.
“It gives us a better chance to apply principles of mineral education and conditions to tap back in time,” said Mustard, a professor at Brown University. “What is even more important, however, is the return of the monsters of Mars that are now collected by the perseverance robber. If we get it back, we can actually check whether this is correct.”
The research shows that Mars probably had a cool but wet and potentially habitable climate in his old past.
The atmosphere of Mars is too cold and then to support life now, but billions of years ago the planet Had an abundance of water, NASA said, which is also demonstrated in the Ferrihydriet found in his substance.
Lab monster of simulated mars dust. (NASA/Adam Valantin)
“These new findings indicate a potentially habitable past for Mars and emphasize the value of coordinated research between NASA and its international partners in investigating fundamental questions about our solar system and the future of space exploration,” Geronimo Villanueva, Associate Division in the Sola-the Spategice SPACACE SPACASTISTION Center in Maryland, and Co-Author of the study, said.
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Valantinas said what the researchers want to “understand, the old Mars climate, the chemical processes about Mars – not only old – but also present.”
He continued: “Then there is the habitability question: was there ever life? To understand that you must understand the conditions that were present in the time of the formation of this mineral. What we know from this study is the evidence for forming ferrihydrite formation and to happen there must be best to form this substance. Iconic red appearance.”
