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Nasa rover finds evidence of raging rivers on Mars – "Different scale than before"

2023-05-17T05:09:16.997Z

Highlights: NASA's Perseverance rover finds evidence of raging rivers on Mars for the first time. In Jezero Crater, the research device of the US space agency Nasa has taken pictures that are supposed to show signs of a former raging river on Mars. The river was apparently deeper and moving faster than anything research has seen evidence for so far. The "Perseverance" rover has been active there for more than two years and is exploring its surroundings. It is to search for signs of past microbial life on the red planet.



The red planet Mars. (Symbolic image) © IMAGO/Panthermedia

NASA's Perseverance rover finds evidence of raging rivers on Mars for the first time. The research is enthusiastic.

Pasadena – There are numerous indications that liquid water once existed on Mars. The evidence so far points to lakes, seas and streams that once gently rippled across the red planet. Now, for the first time, the Nasa rover "Perseverance" has discovered evidence of a different type of water on Mars: In Jezero Crater, the research device of the US space agency Nasa has taken pictures that are supposed to show signs of a former raging river on Mars. The river was apparently deeper and moving faster than anything research has seen evidence for so far.

According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the river was part of a network of waterways that flowed into Jezero Crater. The "Perseverance" rover has been active there for more than two years and is exploring its surroundings. From hundreds of images taken by the rover, two mosaics were put together that provide important clues to the nature of the river: coarse sediment grains and pebbles. "They point to a high-energy river that carries a lot of debris with it. The stronger the water flows, the easier it is to move larger parts of the material," explains Libby Ives of JPL in a statement.

NASA rover "Perseverance" discovers raging rivers on Mars

The region in which the rover made the finds could already be seen from space, and researchers were already given the name "the curvy unit" at that time. Thanks to "Perseverance", research teams can now examine and explore this region up close. Some of the mosaics show a place within the "curvy unit" that the scientists have called "Shrinkle Haven". There, curved layers can be seen on images, on which researchers agree: they must have been created by strongly flowing water.

This place on Mars has been given the name "Pinestand" by the researchers. The research suggests that the tall layers of sediment stacked on top of each other were formed by a deep river that was moving rapidly. © NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

In the past, the layers must have been even larger, the researchers believe. "The wind acted like a scalpel and cut off the tips of these deposits," river specialist Michael Lamb (Caltech) is convinced. "We see such deposits on Earth, but they are not as exposed there as they are on Mars. The earth is covered with vegetation that obscures these layers."

"Perseverance" rover provides clue to powerful Martian rivers

The second mosaic depicts the "Pinestand" region, which is located about 450 meters from "Shrinkle Haven". Some of the sediment deposits there reach up to 20 meters high. Here, too, a mighty river is said to have been involved, the researchers involved believe. "These layers are abnormally high for rivers on Earth," explains Ives. At the same time, the most common way to create such a landform is a river. "This is the first time we've seen such environments on Mars," says Katie Stack Morgan of JPL. "We are thinking about rivers on a different scale than before."

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One of the tasks of the "Perseverance" rover on Mars is astrobiology - the rover is to search for signs of past microbial life on the red planet. To this end, "Perseverance" examines, among other things, the geology and the past climate of Mars. It also collects soil samples, which it deposits on Mars for a later sample retrieval mission. (tab)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-05-17

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