November 24, 2024

Mars may have liquid water beneath its surface

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Mars may have liquid water beneath its surface

a rover China’s Zhurong identified what could be the water beneath the surface of Mars, in Utopia Planitia, the place where the unmanned rover landed in 2021. The data is contained in a study published in the scientific journal Science advances, at the end of April. Because of this discovery, astronomers believe that natural resources were already abundant on Mars three billion years ago.

Zhurong Rover Exploration Route | Image: Reproduction/CNSA/GRAS/Science Advances
Water tracks in the dunes of Mars | Image: Reproduction/CNSA/GRAS/Science Advances

How was possible water on Mars determined?

since he landed there, rover He studied the formation of four dunes. The data showed that all of them are covered with crusts with fractures and cracks that were formed as a result of the melting of frozen water between 1.4 million and 400 thousand years ago. explained Xiaoguang Qin, scientist at the Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Generally, dune salts cause the permafrost to melt, forming salty liquid water. Then, as the brine dries up, the minerals left there react with the sand and form new particles found in the crust. The shell then decreases in size and ends up cracked with grooves and other openings in its structure.

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