Mars is more like Earth than we think?

Scientists have released new details about Mars' water history from the Mars exploration mission of the Phoenix Mars (NASA), operated by the University of Arizona.

In Science, on June 3, 2009, there were four articles on this topic.

Peter H. Smith, along with the Planet and Moon Research Center (University of Arizona), is a key researcher on the mission of the Phoenix train this time. A total of 35 scientists from 6 different countries participated in the project.Smith and his colleagues and students used this ship to investigate the role of water and ice, as well as climate change on Mars.

The Phoenix was launched in early August 2007. By May 2008, after 10 months, images of Phoenix landing on Mars were captured by a HiRISE camera mounted on the Mars reconnaissance orbit MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ).

For the next five months, the University of Arizona's Center for Scientific Operations combined with researchers to track a day and night of Mars. This phase is calculated over 40 minutes longer than a day and night on Earth.

The area in which the Phoenix landed is an area with many catapults generated from geological activities. When a comet or a small planet crashes into the surface of Mars, it will melt the ice below, creating a layer of dust and water that flows into a narrow valley. Smith believes that such an event could also level a rock with a size large enough to hinder the Phoenix from landing safely.

Smith and his team found patterns of research inside the land near the landing site, which are multi-sided shapes ranging in size from 3 to 10 meters. These blocks are created when the surface shrinks and the tape breaks. Then the sand will fill these broken mouths before the ice expands and distorts the surface.

Smith used the Phoenix's robotic arm to dig a series of grooves to reveal the ice below the surface and discovered that the ice was in the middle of the rather thin polygon blocks, only about 1 to 2 inches thick (ie 2 , 5 to 5 cm).

But in the middle of the ditches, we could only dig up to a depth of 8 inches (20.32 cm) and found no ice in this position. The robot arm cannot dig deeper because it is entangled with an edge of the ship."Before that, we had no idea that there could be changes in the depth of the ice to design this arm to dig deeper," he said.

'We want to know the origin of the tape,' said Smith . 'It could be the remnant of an ancient ice cap in the far north of Mars; maybe an frozen ocean; It is also possible that ice has been frozen inside the earth. '

'The most likely hypothesis is that the water vapor in the atmosphere slowly sinks below the surface and then freezes on a certain floor where the temperature is right. We think that may be the source of the ice, but something new to discover makes us surprised. '

Several trenches built by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander on Mars are displayed with true color-almost identical images taken over different days during the five-month survey of the vicinity. after landing at the northernmost point of Mars on May 25, 2008, the Phoenix's operation during this time was led by the University of Arizona. This historic mission project was developed by NASA's Jet Reaction Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Ship design and development was undertaken by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. (Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / A&M University Texas)

One of the surprises he wanted to talk about was the discovery of perchlorate.

'We never thought that perchlorate existed in this region, and no one had previously put it on the list of substances that could be encountered on Mars. Contrary to the expectation, this substance actually concentrates a lot on the landing site, higher than the sodium chloride that we forecast. As a form of oxidation of chlorine, this substance has very interesting properties, including a similarity to the composition of water. On Earth, bacteria use it as a source of chemical energy. '

During the Phoenix ship's mission, Mars has shifted from summer to winter, leaving the research team with the opportunity to observe the planet's climate changes seasonally, looking like frost. and snow.

'Frost is a prediction, but snow is a surprise,' Smith said. 'In the summer, there's a lot of dust in the atmosphere. As we were about to land, dust in the air seemed to disappear, and suddenly clouds of ice formed about 4 km from the surface. We could see the clouds gliding, moving through the camera zone, and then snow fell from below the cloud. Observing such daily weather changes is very interesting. I'm sure no one has had this experience. '

Smith says there is evidence that thin films have changed the chemistry of soil.Unlike Earth, Mars has an unstable rotating axis, currently tilting about 250 from the vertical. Perhaps 5 million years ago, this star tilted a much larger angle, causing the north pole to enjoy more sunlight, leading to warmer, wetter and summer climatic conditions.

'With that climate stage, you have the basis to assume that a large amount of steam comes up from the north pole of Mars. When this peak is unstable, the atmospheric water level can be up to 300 times more. '

That is enough to form snow mounds. On hot summer days, melting snow can form thin water films.

It is not enough to form rivers or lakes, but he thinks this could be a time when humid soil provides conditions for the growth of pre-drought bacteria.

'Who is sure? Evolution is a powerful natural resource. If life ever started on Mars, there must still be nooks and crannies where it still exists. '

Journal reference:
1. PH Smith et al.H2O at the Phoenix Landing Site.Science, July 3, 2009;Vol.325. no.5936, pp.58 - 61 DOI: 10.1126 / science.1172339