The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has revealed new information from its Tianwen 1 Mars orbiter and Zhurong Mars rover, in accordance with a report from state-run media community CGTN.
Launched on July 23, 2020, Tianwen 1 and Zhurong, together with a lander, reached Martian orbit on Feb. 10, 2021; the orbiter has been working for practically 800 days. The rover and the lander reached the floor of Mars three months later, on May 14, and the rover has thus far traversed 6,302 ft (1,921 meters).
Now, CGTN reports that CNSA has introduced that the orbiter and rover have despatched again 1,480 gigabytes of uncooked information — a few of which helps the speculation that an historical ocean as soon as existed within the Utopia Planitia, the huge Martian plain that Zhurong is exploring.
Related: China’s Mars rover Zhurong just snapped an epic self-portrait on the Red Planet (photos)
Scientists analyzing the info have found the existence of hydrated minerals within the “duricrust,” a tough mineral layer atop soil that sometimes types as a result of evaporation of groundwater. The scientists declare that this discovering proves there was “substantial liquid water activity” within the area in some unspecified time in the future during the last billion years. They’ve additionally decided “that the Martian soil has high bearing strength and low friction parameters,” which might point out erosion because of wind, water or each.
The speculation {that a} liquid water ocean as soon as existed on Mars is not new — recent climate simulations have additionally indicated the existence of such an ocean. And, the truth is, scientists even found a large underground ice deposit beneath the Utopia Planitia years earlier than Zhurong’s arrival.
Both Tianwen 1 and Zhurong will proceed to discover Mars looking for water-related proof, however the two robots will even carry out different analysis. CNSA mentioned that its scientists have been finding out “the relationship between the density of rocks on the Martian surface and the degree of surface erosion, the distribution of ions and neutral particles in the near-Mars space environment and the gravity field of Mars,” in accordance with CGTN.
Studies based mostly on information from Tianwen 1 and Zhurong have already been revealed in Nature Astronomy, (opens in new tab) Nature Geoscience (opens in new tab), and Science Advances, CNSA famous.
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