Science, Space and Technology News 2024
A study suggests Mars had a cold, subarctic climate similar to Newfoundland, based on soil analyses from Gale Crater. This finding provides new insights into the preservation of amorphous materials and Mars’ potential to support life. Credit: SciTechDaily.comsuggests Mars’ historical climate was cold and subarctic, similar to Newfoundland.
“Gale Crater is a paleo lakebed—there was obviously water present. But what were the environmental conditions when the water was there?” says Anthony Feldman, a soil scientist and geomorphologist now at DRI. “We’re never going to find a direct analog to the Martian surface, because conditions are so different between Mars and Earth. But we can look at trends under terrestrial conditions and use those to try to extrapolate to Martian questions.
The Curiosity Rover also conducted chemical analyses on the soil and rock samples, finding that the amorphous material was rich in iron and silica but deficient in aluminum. Beyond the limited chemical information, scientists don’t yet understand what the amorphous material is, or what its presence implies about Mars’ historical environment. Uncovering more information about how these enigmatic materials form and persist on Earth could help answer persistent questions about the red planet.
“This shows that you need the water there in order to form these materials,” Feldman says. “But it needs to be cold, near-freezing mean annual temperature conditions in order to preserve the amorphous material in the soils.”
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