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We may have been wrong about howMarsgot its characteristic crimson hue , a new study reveals .
The Red Planet owe its ruddy complexion to rusted iron minerals , dispersed across jillion of year by winds , throughout the satellite ’s dust . Past spacecraft observations of Martian detritus moderate scientist to trust that this rust emerge in dry condition , after the major planet ’s water supply had disappeared .
An artist’s illustration of Mars.
Now , Modern research , published Feb. 25 in the journalNature Communications , contests this aspect . alternatively , Mars ' violent color is intimately pit by ferrihydrite — an Fe oxide that contains weewee — and so the chromaticity must have mold back when the now - arid major planet was a cool ocean world , the study authors suggest . In other words , Mars may be red today because it was blue in the past .
" Our findings have unfold up new questions about the Martian past , " first authorAdomas Valantinas , a erratic scientist at Brown University , secernate Live Science . " We still do n’t know the original rootage location of the ferrihydrite before it was distributed globally through dust storm , the precise chemical composition of Mars ' atmosphere when the ferrihydrite formed , or the precise timing of Mars ' oxidization . "
Mars ' fiery color has captivated astronomers since antiquity . The Romans named the satellite after their god of state of war because of its stemma - stained hue , and the ancient Egyptians collapse it the name " her desher , " or " the violent one,“according to NASA .
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In modern time , spacecraft sent to the Red Planet found no piss within Martian dust . Therefore , scientist have impute the planet ’s redness to an iron oxide called hematite , which constitute under dry status . But a dearth of detailed laboratory experiments leave this conclusion relatively unsupported .
To better inquire the root of Mars ' color , the researchers behind the unexampled study take data from three spacecraft orbit Mars — theEuropean Space Agency ’s ( ESA ) Mars Express orbiter and Trace Gas Orbiter ( TGO ) andNASA ’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — and from NASA ’s Curiosity , Pathfinder and Opportunity rovers to piece together an unprecedented view of the satellite ’s mineral piece and rubble sizing .
With this information in hand , the researchers then used an advanced molar machine to make naturalistic replica dust with grain sizes roughly one - 100th the width of a human tomentum in the lab on Earth . By study this dust via the same methods as the spacecraft , the scientists key out that Martian dust closely match signatures for ferrihydrite , which formed when the planet was cool and loaded .
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Despite answering one important interrogation , the findings also advance others , such as what it could reveal about the major planet ’s preceding windows of habitability and the prospect that life sentence once existed on its control surface .
" Ferrihydrite require liquid water and forms rapidly under cold , smashed , oxidate consideration , typically at circumneutral pH. Hematite , in direct contrast , can imprint in warm and dry experimental condition through slow chemical weathering process , " Valantinas said . " The finding suggests Mars go through periods of aqueous alteration — cold , wet condition with active interpersonal chemistry — before transitioning to its current desert state . This furnish novel constraints on the timeline of Mars ’s habitableness and betoken potential environments where microbic life story could have thrive . "
" We eagerly await the results from upcoming missions like ESA’sRosalind Franklinrover and the NASA - ESAMars sampling return , which will leave us to poke into deeper into what makes Mars red,“Colin Wilson , project scientist for ESA ’s TGO and Mars Express , say in a statement .
" Some of the samples already collected by NASA ’s Perseverance scouter andawaiting return to Earthinclude junk , " Wilson added . " Once we get these cherished samples into the research lab , we ’ll be able-bodied to assess exactly how much ferrihydrite the dust contains , and what this means for our understanding of the story of water — and the possibility for life — on Mars . "
Mars quiz: Is your knowledge of the Red Planet out of this world?
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