NASA's MRO previously thought water flows on Mars.

From the discovery made on Mars, it is known that in the future where rivers, ponds will be living. It was previously estimated that the water on Mars evaporated about 3 years ago, but a study of the data deposited by the MRO on Mars over the past 15 years shows that there are indications of liquid water from Mars in the recent past. 2 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, this means that the water flowed, a billion years longer than previous estimates.

On Mars, Caltech researchers used the Reconnaissance Orbiter to determine whether water on the surface of Mars had, in fact, left behind salt minerals as recently as 2 billion years ago. Data collected from Mars suggest that rivers and ponds on Mars may have been rippled billions of years ago, providing a potential habitat for microbial life.

The discovery of salt confirms that there may have been liquid water on Mars, with salt being the first mineral to provide evidence of the presence of liquid water in deposits. The new discovery raises many questions about how long a microbial could survive on Mars, if it ever formed.

Study lead author Ellen Lisk and Professor Bethany Ehlmann used data from an MRO instrument called the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) to map chloride salts in the soil-rich highlands of Mars' southern hemisphere. The fewer craters the area has, the smaller it is, scientists can estimate their age by counting the number of craters on an area of the surface.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched on 12 August 2005, and reached Mars orbit on 10 March 2006. The MRO consists of two cameras designed for the purpose of mapping and zooming in on Mars. Characteristics of these two cameras, the Context Camera, with its black-and-white wide-angle lens, helps scientists map the extent of chloride. Where scientists need to zoom in on Mars, scientists turn to the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) color camera, which lets them see details as small as the Mars rover from space.

When Lisk and Ehlman created digital elevation maps of Mars, using both cameras, they found that many of the salts were in depressions, and on volcanic plains sloping to shallow ponds. Counting craters at the top of the volcanic area and evidence of salt allowed scientists to date their deposits.

While the MRO has inspired new discoveries about the nature and timing of ancient salt ponds associated with the river, says Ehlmann, CRISM's deputy principal, his co-author, Lisk, now post-mortem at Johns Hopkins University's Laboratory of Applied Physics doctoral researcher, who leads CRISM.

Comments

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Reveals New Details of the Orion Nebula’s Star Formation.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the Orion Nebula (Messier 42, M42), the nearest star-forming region to Earth, located about 1,500 light-years away. A captivating new image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope offers an extraordinary look into the Orion Nebula, the nearest massive star-forming region to Earth. Located just 1,500 light-years away, this nebula is visible to the naked eye below the three stars forming Orion's "belt." The region is home to hundreds of newborn stars, including two protostars featured in the image: HOPS 150 and HOPS 153. Named after the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey, conducted with ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, the protostars HOPS 150 and HOPS 153 provide key insights into the early stages of star formation. HOPS 150, visible in the upper-right corner of the image, is a binary star system, with two young stars orbiting one another. These protostars are surrounded by small dusty disks, where material from th...

New Method Detects Small Asteroids in Main Belt, Offering Insight for Planetary Defense.

An international team of physicists, led by MIT researchers, has developed a groundbreaking method to detect small asteroids, as small as 10 meters in diameter, within the main asteroid belt. These space rocks, ranging from the size of a bus to several stadiums wide, were previously undetectable using traditional methods. The team's discovery, detailed in a paper published in Nature, could significantly improve tracking of potential asteroid impactors, aiding planetary defense efforts. The main asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter, is home to millions of asteroids, but until now, scientists could only detect objects roughly a kilometer in diameter. The new detection technique, which utilizes the "shift and stack" method, is able to identify much smaller asteroids, even those far from Earth, enabling more precise orbital tracking. This breakthrough is crucial for planetary defense, allowing scientists to spot near-Earth objects that may pose a threat in the fu...

XSPECT Payload Successfully Validates Performance through Cas A Observation.

The XSPECT instrument captures a detailed spectrum of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), encompassing both the Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) background and the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB). The flux observed above 8 keV predominantly results from the combined contributions of CXB and GCR. The presented spectrum, depicted in the figure, is derived from a cumulative integration time of 20 ksec, collected across multiple orbits, providing valuable insights into the X-ray emissions associated with Cas A. XPoSat, India's inaugural X-ray polarimetric mission, has achieved a significant as the XSPECT instrument captures its initial observations from the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant. Launched on January 1, 2024, XPoSat is equipped with two co-aligned instruments, namely the POLarimeter Instrument in X-rays (POLIX) and X-ray SPECtroscopy and Timing (XSPECT). This mission is designed to unravel the mysteries of cosmic X-ray sources. While POLIX focuses on examining X-ray po...

Infinity Cosmos

Search This Blog