Agence France-PresseFeb 11, 2021 13:10:24 IST
Researchers said Wednesday they had observed a water valve escaping high in Mars’ thin atmosphere, offering exciting new clues as to whether the Red Planet could give one life hour. Signs of ancient valleys and river channels suggest meltwater that once flowed over the surface of Mars. Today, water is mostly trapped in the planet’s ice caps or buried underground. But some of it is vaporizing, in the form of hydrogen emitted from the atmosphere, according to new research co-authored in the journal Science Advances by two scientists at the British Open University.
Mars across its moon Phobos and Deimos.
They found the nugget by analyzing light passing through the Martian atmosphere using an instrument called Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery. The machine is traveling aboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a joint mission between the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos.
“This elegant instrument gives us an unprecedented view of water isotopes in the Mars atmosphere as an action of both time and space,” said Manish Patel, senior lecturer in planetary sciences at the Open University.
“Measuring water isotopes is an important element in understanding how Mars as a planet has lost its water over time, and therefore how the planet’s inhabiting capacity has changed through its -history, “he said.
It’s been a busy week for Martian research.
On Wednesday, the Chinese probe Tianwen-1 entered the planet’s orbit after launching from southern China last July, in the latest development for Beijing’s ambitious space program.
The day before, the United Arab Emirates’ “Hope” probe successfully entered the Mars orbit, making history as the first interplanetary mission in the Arab world.