China’s Mars rover uncovers evidence of water at landing site

China’s Zhurong Rover has discovered evidence that suggests water remained on Mars longer than anticipated.

Zhurong landed in a large plain in Mars’ northern hemisphere called Utopia Planitia on May 15, 2021 — where NASA’s Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976.

The three-month-long mission was the primary one of the rover. It searched for evidence of ancient life. It investigated the area’s environment, water supply, and distribution of ice and minerals. The plain is the largest in the Martian northern lowerlands. The rover continues exploring its landing site and sending information back to Tianwen-1 orbiter, which is currently orbiting the planet.

The data from the Utopia Planitia’s initial survey suggests that water was present in the Utopia Planitia Basin at a time when many scientists thought Mars was dry and cold.

A study detailing the findings published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

A changing world

Mars was once hot and wet billions years ago. But something happened that caused it to become an arid and frozen desert today. This period was known as the Amazonian Epoch, which started around 3 billion years ago. It continues to this day.

“The most important and novel thing about our landing site is that we discovered hydrated minerals on the young Amazonian soil. These hydrated minerals are indicators for water activities, such as groundwater activities.” saidYang Liu, the lead author of the study, is a researcher at both the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ State Key Laboratory of Space Weather (China Academy of Sciences) and the academy’s Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology (Academy of Sciences).

Researchers analyzed data from the Zhurong Rover about sediments and minerals in the basin, as well as analysis by various instruments within the rover. They found hydrated silica and sulfates, similar to hydrated minerals discovered by other missions studying different regions of the red planet.

The minerals were found in bright-toned rocks that help to show their composition. Researchers determined that the rocks found at the landing site are made up of a layer duricrust. This kind of layer is formed when there is an excessive amount of water.

The discovery of the thicker duricrust layer suggests that Utopia Planitia may have had a more active water system tens to millions of years before scientists anticipated.

Martian missions have discovered more evidence to support the idea that the planet experienced cycles of wetness and warmth, dryness and cold. This is in addition to the growing evidence that Martian expeditions are finding. These climate fluctuations could have been caused by active volcanoes, or impacts from other celestial objects like Yang said.

Exploration needs fuel

Researchers were shocked to discover this because previous orbiters observations had not revealed the presence of hydrated minerals at the landing site. Yang said that this is why exploration using a rover was so important. said.

Scientists have been interested in Utopia Planitia because they believe the area once held an ocean.

“So the discovery of hydrated minerals (has) significant indications on the geological and water history of the region and the climate evolution of Mars,” Yang said.

Yang saidHe hopes the rover will be able to analyze layers from a crater on the plain and gain more insight into the past of water in the area.

These findings suggest that there may be “considerable stocks” of water in the hydrated mineral or ground ice. Future human explorers could also use these resources during their crewed mission to Mars.

Yang says water is “one of the most important resources to human explorers.” said. “Hydrated Minerals, which contain structural water and ground ice can be used on Mars as an important water resource.”