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Category: space – Page 139

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Uncovers Water-Borne Minerals in Mars’ Jezero Crater

“These are the oldest rocks that may have been deposited by water, that we’ve ever laid hands or rover arms on,” said Dr. Benjamin Weiss. “That’s exciting, because it means these are the most promising rocks that may have preserved fossils, and signatures of life.”

Did life once exist on Mars, and if so, where will we find it? This is what a recent study published in AGU Advances hopes to address as a team of several dozen international researchers led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) investigated rocks samples obtained by NASA’s Perseverance (Percy) rover obtained in Jezero Crater on Mars, and which allegedly contain minerals only found in water. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the conditions for life to have emerged on the Red Planet long ago, along with identifying what evidence could be used to find life elsewhere in the solar system.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data obtained from seven rock samples collected by Percy along Jezero’s western slope, which scientists have hypothesized was an ancient lake long ago. After examining Percy’s images of the surrounding area and the chemical analyses from the rock samples, the team determined that the rocks contain evidence of water, meaning this location likely contained a lake long ago. However, the potential for this lake having life is still unknown since the team did not identify evidence of organic matter within the samples. Despite this, the team determined that the rocks were created more than 3.5 billion years ago, long before life emerged on the Earth.

Webb Telescope Unveils Evidence of Water and Hydration on Asteroid Psyche

“Asteroids are leftovers from the planetary formation process, so their compositions vary depending on where they formed in the solar nebula,” said Dr. Anicia Arredondo. “Hydration that is endogenous could suggest that Psyche is not the remnant core of a protoplanet.”

Could a metallic asteroid contain water and what can this teach us about the asteroid’s formation and evolution? This is what a recent study due for publication in the Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) investigated whether the metallic asteroid Psyche —which is one of the largest objects in the main asteroid belt—could contain evidence of water and hydration.

This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of asteroids and what this can teach us about the history of the solar system. This study also comes as NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is currently en route to the Psyche asteroid and is scheduled to arrive in August 2029.

For the study, the researchers used NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope to observe the 140-mile diameter asteroid, which detected evidence of what are known as hydroxyl molecules, or molecules containing bonded hydrogen and oxygen, and specifically identified traces of water, more commonly known as H2O in its molecular form. Now, the question arises as to if the water got there from exogenous (external) or endogenous (internal) processes.

Probing Mars’ Interior Reveals Vast Underground Water Reservoir

“Establishing that there is a big reservoir of liquid water provides some window into what the climate was like or could be like,” said Dr. Michael Manga.

While Mars is incapable of having liquid water on its surface, what about underground, and how much could there be? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how liquid water might be present beneath the Martian surface. This study holds the potential to help researchers not only better understand the current conditions on the Red Planet, but also if these same conditions could have led to life existing on the surface in the past.

For the study, the researchers analyzed seismic data obtained by NASA’s now-retired InSight lander, which landed on Mars in 2018 and sent back valuable data regarding the interior of Mars until the mission ended in 2022. This was after mission planners determined the amount of dust that had collected on the lander’s solar panels did not allow for sufficient solar energy to keep it functioning. However, despite being expired for two years, scientists continued to pour over vast amounts of data regarding the interior of Mars.

Now, after combining this seismic data with models used on Earth to map underground oil fields and aquifers, the researchers determined that igneous rocks (cooled magma) are drenched in liquid water between 11.5 and 20 kilometers (7.15 and 12.4 miles) beneath the Martian surface. Additionally, they ascertained the volume of this liquid water could cover the entire surface of Mars up to approximately one-mile deep. The presence of liquid water beneath the surface could help scientists better understand the water cycle on Mars, but accessing this water for future astronauts or colonists is out of the question given its depth.