Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water

Rxke · 2011-12-08 02:44:43

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?r … l&rst=3220

"This tells a slam-dunk story that water flowed through underground fractures in the rock," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for Opportunity. "This stuff is a fairly pure chemical deposit that formed in place right where we see it. That can't be said for other gypsum seen on Mars or for other water-related minerals Opportunity has found. It's not uncommon on Earth, but on Mars, it's the kind of thing that makes geologists jump out of their chairs."

SpaceNut · 2011-12-08 20:14:37

Very important if man is actually going where beauracrats dare to not put there money where there mouths says they want man to go.

JonClarke · 2011-12-16 20:40:44

Saying it is a slam dunk is a bit of hyperbole, IMHO. There has been plenty of evidence for past liquid water on Mars already, and some evidence for it being locally present today, at least some of the time. If people aren't going to be convinced by outflow channels, meandering channels, fans, gullies, hydrated minerals, salt crystals, concretions, water ripples, and aqueous minerals in martian meteorites, they aren't going to be convinced by this.

tahanson43206 · 2021-09-21 20:59:37

For SpaceNut .... this topic has been idle for a while .... there are a number of topics that consider water on Mars...

The report below is about a detailed study of some micrometeorites found on Earth that are believed to have come from Mars.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mars-always- … 56386.html

The new study does not entirely rule out the possibility of Martian biology. The once-wet world did not lose all of its water to space. Some is entrained in permafrost at the poles, and more may have retreated underground, in aquifers where the water would be liquid at least for some parts of the Martian year. Forms of microbial life that emerged in the planet’s earlier, wetter era may have found refuge there ever since. Mars was never going to be a garden world like Earth, but that doesn’t mean it can’t stir still.

This study looked at micrometeorites from Mars, found on Earth.

(th)

Rxke · 2021-09-22 00:16:24

>going where beauracrats dare to not put there money where there mouths says they want man to go.

That always makes me chuckle

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-27 10:48:37

China’s Mars rover finds hints of catastrophic floods (

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03056-1

Radar images reveal clues to the history of a largely unexplored region.

China’s Zhurong rover has peered deep under the surface of Mars, finding evidence of two major floods that probably shaped the region the robot has been exploring since it landed in May 2021.
An analysis published in Nature today1 is the first result from Zhurong’s radar imager, which can probe up to 100 metres below the surface. “It is a very interesting paper, and I was particularly impressed by how deep they can see with this radar,” says Svein-Erik Hamran, a planetary scientist at the University of Oslo, who analysed the only previous data from ground-penetrating radar used on the planet, collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover.
The history of Zhurong’s landing site — on Utopia Planitia, vast plains in Mars’s northern hemisphere — has puzzled scientists. Some have theorized that water or ice was once a feature of the landscape. Observations from space have identified sedimentary deposits that suggest the region was once an ancient ocean or submerged by huge floods, and geological features, such as pitted cones, resemble structures formed by water or ice. In May, researchers analysed infrared images of the landing site taken by China’s Mars orbiter, Tianwen-1, and found hydrated minerals that could have formed when groundwater rose through the rock or ice melted.
But the region could have also been covered in lava, concealing some of these hydrological processes in the subsurface. Eruptions from the volcano Elysium Mons to the east of the landing site, or other volcanic activity, could have covered the region in magma, as has been observed in other parts of the Utopia basin. By studying the radar data, researchers hope to understand what happened, and whether water or ice could still be lurking below the rocks. “We want to know what is going on beneath the surface,” says study co-author Liu Yang, a planetary scientist at the National Space Science Center in Beijing.
Below the surface Zhurong is China’s first rover on the red planet, and it has been exploring the southern part of Utopia Planitia. The rover’s ground-penetrating radar transmits high-frequency radio waves that can penetrate the surface to a depth of between 3 and 10 metres, and low-frequency waves that can reach up to 100 metres underground but offer poorer resolution. The study authors analysed low-frequency data taken between 25 May and 6 September over more than 1,100 metres of terrain as Zhurong travelled south of its landing site. Radar signals reflect off materials under the surface, revealing the size of their grains and their ability to hold an electric charge. Stronger signals typically indicate larger objects.
The radar did not find any evidence of liquid water down to 80 metres, but it did detect two horizontal layers with interesting patterns. In a layer between 10 and 30 metres deep, the team reports, the reflection signals strengthened with increasing depth. The researchers say this is probably due to larger boulders resting at the base of the layer, and smaller rocks settling on top. An older, thicker layer between 30 and 80 metres down showed a similar pattern.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-09-27 10:49:20)

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#1 2011-12-08 02:44:43

Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water

#2 2011-12-08 20:14:37

Re: Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water

#3 2011-12-16 20:40:44

Re: Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water

#4 2021-09-21 20:59:37

Re: Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water

#5 2021-09-22 00:16:24

Re: Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water

#6 2022-09-27 10:48:37

Re: Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water

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