Space
Mars Exploration Rover ‘Opportunity’ Finds Evidence Of Past Water At Marathon Valley
Michael Finn
First Posted: Jun 07, 2016 06:50 AM EDT
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity had been digging into some outcrops while taking a few panoramic pictures from its site on the south part of the Marathon Valley at the western rim of Endeavor Crater, as it lies exposed to the Martian weather. Eventually, when MER officials have prepared to show the mission's plan to continue the roving expedition until 2018, the robotic geologist discovered a new geological find - past water.
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was commanded to drag its left front wheel across the red bands of soil, which scientists have observed around the Marathon Valley. However, instead of just excavating a few red pebbles, the scientists found a trove of pebbles and sands, with evidence for different sulfate-rich salts, that are indicative of water that once existed on the planet.
MER scientists have long speculated that these red band portions are aqueous alteration zones, with bands being troughs that made of porous fractures, wherein groundwater may have likely moved. Nevertheless, the rover's discovery was far from what they expected. According to MER lead investigator Steve Squyres, this proves the idea that these are the places where the significant aqueous alteration happened, according to Planetary.
Clay deposits are basically made of phyllosillicate minerals that have different amounts of water in molecular structure, which could be a sign of past water and ordinarily more neutral compared to acidic water that is consumed on Earth. However, classified as smectites, the clays were not accurately obvious. Based on the data gathered by Opportunity from the time it entered Marathon Valley in July, the scientists have concluded that the smectite remnants are scattered everywhere in Marathon Valley, and that these clays have possibly formed in small amount of water. This hypothesis is supported by a robot's discovery from the Pierre Pinault, an outcrop on a slope along the southwestern zone of the south wall of the valley that was studied in detail.
MER Opportunity has been investigating the south wall of the Marathon Valley since October 2015 through the Martian winter to look for the mother lode of those clay minerals that has been detected three years ago by an instrument called Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, Planetary reported.
See Now:
NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
More on SCIENCEwr
First Posted: Jun 07, 2016 06:50 AM EDT
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity had been digging into some outcrops while taking a few panoramic pictures from its site on the south part of the Marathon Valley at the western rim of Endeavor Crater, as it lies exposed to the Martian weather. Eventually, when MER officials have prepared to show the mission's plan to continue the roving expedition until 2018, the robotic geologist discovered a new geological find - past water.
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was commanded to drag its left front wheel across the red bands of soil, which scientists have observed around the Marathon Valley. However, instead of just excavating a few red pebbles, the scientists found a trove of pebbles and sands, with evidence for different sulfate-rich salts, that are indicative of water that once existed on the planet.
MER scientists have long speculated that these red band portions are aqueous alteration zones, with bands being troughs that made of porous fractures, wherein groundwater may have likely moved. Nevertheless, the rover's discovery was far from what they expected. According to MER lead investigator Steve Squyres, this proves the idea that these are the places where the significant aqueous alteration happened, according to Planetary.
Clay deposits are basically made of phyllosillicate minerals that have different amounts of water in molecular structure, which could be a sign of past water and ordinarily more neutral compared to acidic water that is consumed on Earth. However, classified as smectites, the clays were not accurately obvious. Based on the data gathered by Opportunity from the time it entered Marathon Valley in July, the scientists have concluded that the smectite remnants are scattered everywhere in Marathon Valley, and that these clays have possibly formed in small amount of water. This hypothesis is supported by a robot's discovery from the Pierre Pinault, an outcrop on a slope along the southwestern zone of the south wall of the valley that was studied in detail.
MER Opportunity has been investigating the south wall of the Marathon Valley since October 2015 through the Martian winter to look for the mother lode of those clay minerals that has been detected three years ago by an instrument called Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, Planetary reported.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone