Scientists reveal new research findings after finding evidence in rocks on Mars that may indicate that Mars was once as rich in oxygen as Earth.
One of the factors that makes the planet have the right conditions for the life of living organisms. It is the presence of levels of oxygen gas, which is a gas necessary for the breathing process, and KD is sufficient, as it constitutes approximately 21% of the gases present in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Meanwhile, scientists estimate that our neighbor Mars has certain conditions that may make it suitable for life as well. But the very low oxygen level, less than 1%, is an important factor that makes it difficult to survive there.
But researchers have recently found evidence that Mars may have had high oxygen levels like Earth in the past, and may have been more similar to Earth than scientists previously thought.
NASA's Curiosity rover is on a mission to Mars. A rock unusually rich in manganese oxide (MgO) has been discovered.
The rock was discovered as the spacecraft passed through the middle of Gale Crater, a 154-kilometre-wide ancient lake floor that it has been exploring since 2012.
Its ChemCam instrument can detect manganese oxide within rocks by vaporizing small pieces of rock with a laser. They then analyzed the resulting dust vapors and found that half of the rock's chemical composition was manganese oxide.
On Earth, manganese is usually found in rocks and in the oceans. It appeared before the appearance of the oldest living organisms, about 4 billion years ago.
The only known way to form manganese oxide involves elemental oxygen or oxygen-producing microorganisms. But on Mars there is no clear evidence of either factor. This led scientists to wonder how manganese oxide formed in the rocks they found.
Patrick Gasda, a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a member of the research team, said: “The formation of rocks that contain a high percentage of manganese oxide. “It happened easily on Earth because of microorganisms and oxygen…so it all points to life.”
He added: “Of course, we have no evidence of life on Mars, so to say that oxygen is produced in a system completely devoid of life would be an understatement. The current understanding of Mars cannot explain this.
The current assumption is that in the distant past Mars may have once had oxygen levels similar to our planet.
However, not everyone agrees that the newly discovered rocks indicate that Mars was once rich in oxygen.
Jeffrey Catalano, Professor of Earth Environmental and Planetary Sciences, University of Washington The presence of oxidized rocks could help scientists understand that Mars, like Earth, went through a transitional period of low-oxygen and low-oxygen periods, said the researchers, who were not involved in the study.
“The impact of manganese oxide on our understanding of such changes has been overstated here and in other previous research.
Catalano was part of a 2022 study that found manganese oxide could easily form under Mars-like conditions without oxygen in the atmosphere.
Research based on laboratory results shows that elements such as chlorine and bromine, which were abundant on early Mars, can convert manganese dissolved in water into manganese oxide. This means there are other explanations for how the compound formed, so the discovery of manganese oxide on Mars does not indicate that the red planet must have once been rich in oxygen.
This is the miracle of science because not every discovery is true. But it is not worthless. Because it could be the basis for new discoveries in the future that might one day allow us to solve all the mysteries of Mars.
Read the full research here
Compiled from Live sciences
Advance Weather Forecast May 7-16, 2024: Increasing thunderstorms.
Check 45 provinces patent gold 30 baht transact everywhere with one ID card.
Thai futsal is ranked ninth in the world after the official FIFA rankings.
“Reader. Infuriatingly humble coffee enthusiast. Future teen idol. Tv nerd. Explorer. Organizer. Twitter aficionado. Evil music fanatic.”