The water that existed on Mars slowly drained into space, or at least that’s the theory that goes. A new work he disputes this assumption, offering an alternative scenario in which the Red Planet clung to much of its old water – we simply cannot see it.
An unexpectedly large amount of water is hidden inside the minerals buried under the Martian crust, according to the new research published in Science. The data presented in the new paper, co-authored by Eva Scheller, a Caltech graduate student, suggest that between 30% and 99% of the original water on Mars has been preserved.
At the same time, the authors say that the predominant theory of Martian water flowing into space – a consequence of the planet’s low gravity – is not really handy. and that their new theory solves a key shortcoming quite nice. These results were presented on March 15 at the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
We know that the Red Planet was once covered flowing water, proof being the remains of deep ocean basins, LAKES, rushing rivers, and even Amazingly huge tsunami. The total volume of water that existed on the waterfront the ancient Martian surface is estimate half the total volume of the Atlantic Ocean, which is heavy a trivial amount. This was the case billions of years ago, but most of this water seems to have disappeared, and the small amount that remained retreated to the polar caps and (possibly) strange underground tank.
But as Scheller explained in a NASA statement, the atmospheric escape of Martian water “does not fully explain the data we have about how much water actually existed on Mars.”
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The key to any study of the history of water on Mars is the observed ratio of deuterium to hydrogen (D / H), which is commonly used to support the theory of atmospheric escape. Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, but there are a very small number of hydrogen atoms in the form of deuterium, also known as “heavy hydrogen” due to an additional neutron in the atomic nucleus, in addition to the standard proton. Normal hydrogen, which accounts for 99.98% of all hydrogen, can easily escape the low Martian gravity and leak into space, but this is not the case with deuterium. Consequently, Mars should have a surplus of deuterium, which it does.
The problem is that currently the observed rate of atmospheric water leakage is too low, according to the study authors, and this process cannot exclusively explain all the historical water losses in the atmosphere. Instead, Scheller and her colleagues claim that, in addition to some slight leaks through the atmosphere, the ancient water of Mars has become trapped in minerals in the crust of the planet. Together, these two mechanisms can explain the observed D / H ratio and the missing water, according to the paper.
Evidence for this hypothesis has been extracted from NASA’s planetary data system, which serves as a general data repository for previous missions. In this case, the authors analyzed the specific Mars data collected by telescopes, satellites and rovers in order to reconstruct the volumes of historical water – whether in liquid, vapor or ice form – on Mars and to study the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere and crust.
Performing simulations under different conditions, the authors showed that Mars lost much of its water during the Noahian period, about 4.1 billion to 3.7 billion years ago, and that 30% to 99% of this old water was buried under the crust, with the rest being lost in space, in a finding that respects the currently observed D / H ratio.
The process responsible for the disappearance of water from Mars is known as hydration of the crust and is not as exotic as it seems. The chemical weathering caused by the mixture of rocks with water produces clays and other soaked minerals. This is also happening on Earth on Mars, as the earth proves remarks made by NASA’s Curiosity rover. However, the fate of these materials played out differently on the two planets.
“Hydrated materials on our planet are being continuously recycled through plate tectonics,” Michael Meyer, chief scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, said in a NASA statement.. “Because we have measurements from several spacecraft, we can see that Mars is not recycling, so water is now trapped in the crust or lost in space,” said Meyer, who is not directly involved in the new research..
Kevin Olsen, a fellow at Oxford University and an expert on the Martian atmosphere, said the new work is “bold”“But” new and intriguing” hypotheses.
“It simply came to our notice then [making inferences] about the ancient climate of Mars comes from comparison with Earth, and one aspect of Mars’ evolution that differs from Earth is the movement of its volcanoes, the largest in the solar system, “wrote Olsen, who is not affiliated with the new study, in an email. “It simply came to our notice thenAs great as the exchange between the near-surface water reservoirs and those in the rocky crust, they opened up many plausible scenarios in which Mars was once much wetter, but it turned out as we see it today. ”
“This is a very interesting work, which combines many different mechanisms and models to explore the fate of water on Mars,” said Geronimo Villanueva, a planetary scientist at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. also is not involved in the new study, he said in an email. “Given the high degree of uncertainty that exists on some of the parameters of the model – the range of possible scenarios is excellent – however, these are important testable predictions that can be followed in the future.”
Villanueva said the new paper will be helpful for future investigations into the history of water on the red planet.
Fortunately, Rover perseverance could soon contribute to this line of research. NASA’s new Martian explorer he will soon begin his scientific activity in the Jezero Crater, the site of a former lake and river delta. Evidence to support this new theory could exist in this ancient expanse, which Perseverance will explore in the next two years.
For future Martian settlers, this is both good and bad news. This is good news because, hey, Mars still has a lot of water, at least in theory. The bad news is that this water, if it exists, is trapped in hydrated materials such as clay. To live on Mars would be be hard enough, but the development of infrastructure for the extraction, extraction and cleaning of water extracted from these minerals sounds wild complicated and expensive.
To quote from “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, it could be a classic case of “Water, water, anywhere, and all the planks have shrunk; Water, water, anywhere, not a drop of drinking. “