The new study revealed the red color of the Mars dust from the reaction that occurred in cool wet conditions, contrary to the previous popular hypothesis.
Mars is famous for reddish brown. Image: Science Photo Library
According to the common hypothesis, Mars has a reddish brown color due to rust -rusted minerals, scattered for billions of years by the wind, mixed with the dust of the planet. Observing the past of the spacecraft for Mars dust caused scientists to think that rust appeared in dry conditions, after the water on the planet disappeared. However, the new research published on February 25 in the magazine Nature Communications reject this hypothesis. Instead, the red color of Mars is likely to be the result of Ferrihydrite, iron oxide containing water. Therefore, this color must be formed when this arid planet has an ocean covered, Live Science Report.
“Our discovery opens new questions about the past of Mars,” Adomas Valantinas, a planet at Brown University. “We still do not know the position of the original Ferrihydrite source before it was distributed throughout the planet through the dust storm, the exact chemical composition of the Mars atmosphere when Ferrihydrite formed or the exact time of the process of the process of the process. Oxidation on Mars “.
The striking red of Mars has attracted the attention of astronomers from ancient times. That is why the Romans named the planet according to the war. In modern times, the spacecraft flying to the red planet did not find water in the Fire dust. Therefore, scientists believe that the color of the planet comes from hematite iron oxide formed in dry conditions. But a series of experiments showed that this conclusion was relatively convincing.
In order to learn more about the origin of Mars color, the new research team reviewed data from 3 spacecraft spaced around Mars, Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) of the European Space Agency ( ESA) Along with NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance, as well as data from Curiosity, Pathfinder and Opportunity robots of NASA’s to explore the mineral and dust size of the mineral. This planet.
The researchers then used an advanced crusher to create a simulation dust with a small particle size equal to 1/100 width of human hair in the laboratory. Through the analysis of this type of dust with the same method as the spacecraft, they discovered that Mars dust matched the signs of Ferrihydrite, formed when the planet was wet and cool. Despite answering an important question, discovering also raises many other questions like it can reveal what Mars’ past and the ability to exist on the planet’s surface.
Ferrihydrite requires liquid water and formed rapidly in cold and wet oxidation conditions. In contrast, Hematite forms in warm and dry conditions through slow chemical weathering processes. Discovering how fire has experienced periods of fluctuations in the country. The team is waiting for results from future tasks such as ESA’s Rosalind Franklin self -propelled robot and the mission to bring NASA’s Mars to the Earth of NASA to accurately measure the amount of ferrydrite in the dust layer, thereby decoding the past Contains water of red planet.