There is really water on Mars

The first Mars detection mission Tianwen No. 1 brought good news in my country -there is really water on Mars! Moreover, the place where Tianwen No. 1 and the "Zhu Rong" Mars landing landed was once a ocean!

This is the latest research results of my country's Mars detection mission learned from the National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Aerospace Engineering Center on September 19. Through the study of Mars detection data obtained by Tianwen No. 1, scientists found aquatic minerals in plate -shaped hard shell rocks in the landing area, proved that there was a lot of liquid water activities in the landing area in nearly 1 billion years.

The "clues" of water on Mars on the Mars

In deep space exploration, finding water is an important goal of human beings. Water is the source of life. If you find water on the planet, you can provide more scientific basis for the existence of extraterrestrial life. The same is true of Mars detection.

Some scientists believe that about 4 billion years ago, Mars' geology and climate were similar to the earth, with rivers, lakes, and even oceans. But today's Mars is like a desert, which makes it difficult to connect with the earth. There is really water on Mars? This is a focus that human beings have been paying attention to since Mars detection.

Since the 1960s, human beings have implemented many Mars detection tasks, and the "clues" of water have been found on Mars -

In 1996, the American "Mars Global Survey Detector" found a high -resolution shooting of a suspected flush gully in the Mars Mountain area of ​​Mars.

In 2001, the "Odyssey Mars probe" in the United States detected the Mars Arctic and found that there was a small amount of water vapor in Mars at the atmosphere.

In 2003, the "Mars Express" of the European Space Agency detected weathered salt minerals in a certain area of ​​Mars and found a dry salt lake similar to Lop Nur. Salt minerals are residues after water volatilization, which provides evidence for water on the surface of Mars.

In 2011, the "Mars Survey Rail" in the United States had a seasonal slope lines on the surface of Mars or Asian surfaces. After studying, the minerals in the seasons of the slopes of this season are made of soluble after water, which proves that there is liquid water on Mars.

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These exploration studies show that there is indeed water on Mars. The detection data and research results of Tianwen No. 1 provided new evidence for this conclusion.

The Mars Utopia Plain once existed in the ocean

On May 15, 2021, Tianwen No. 1 landed in the south of the Mars Utopia Plain. A week later, the "Zhu Rong" Mars car left the landing platform and began to inspect and detect on the surface of Mars. Earlier, some people believed that the utopian plain may be a place where the ancient ocean was located, which was also one of the reasons why Tianwen No. 1 chose to land here. So, is it really a ocean here?

According to the National Space Administration's Moon Exploration and Aerospace Engineering Center, as of September 15, 2022, the Tianwen No. 1 widow has been running for more than 780 days. 1480GB. Scientists have conducted research on these first -hand data.

"Through comprehensive research on typical landforms such as the concave cone, barriers of barriers, and grooves distributed by the landing area, scientists reveal the important connection between the formation of these landforms and water activities." Published news.

During the inspection and detection of the "Zhu Rong", a rock -like rock -like rock -like rock -like rocky rock was found in the landing area. The plate -shaped hard shell rock is a salt mineral that evaporates the crystal of the capillary during the groundwater overflow, which is formed by the rockization of Mars soil. Scientists speculate that plate -shaped hard shell rocks are rich in silicon or aqueous sulfate minerals.

Further research supports this speculation. Through the analysis of camera images and spectrum data, scientists have found aquatic minerals in plate -shaped hard shell rocks, and it is speculated that the approximate time range of water activities -the late Mars Amazon in Mars in 1 billion years.

At the same time, in combination with the camera image and the "Zhu Rong" mobile ruts, scientists have found that the soil in the landing area has a high pressure strength, and the friction parameters are low. There are characteristics related to water activities and experienced wind and sand milling. The National Space Administration's Moon Exploration and Aerospace Engineering Center stated that these new achievements reveal the impact of Mars wind and sand and water activities on geological evolution and environmental changes, and provide strong support for the conjecture of "Mars Utopia Plains once existed in the ocean".

"Since there is water, there may be some climatic conditions that are suitable for life or existence in Mars in nearly 1 billion years." Liu Yang, a researcher at the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes.

In addition to discovering water activities, scientists also use the detection data of Tianwen No. 1 to obtain a number of in terms of the relationship between the rock density and the degree of erosion on the surface, the distribution of neutral particles in the near -fire space environment, and the Mars gravity field. Scientific results.

At present, Tianwen No. 1 surrounding device continues to carry out scientific detection in the remote sensing mission track, and continues to accumulate first -hand scientific data. The "Zhu Rong" Mars car is in a dormant state, waiting for Mars's environmental conditions to turn on inspection and detection. In the future, we will reveal more secrets about Mars.

(Our newspaper, Beijing, September 19th. Reporter Chen Haibo)

【Edit: Chen Wentao】

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