Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
Researchers utilizing NASA's Curiosity rover's ChemCam instrument unveiled elevated manganese levels in lakebed rocks within Mars' Gale Crater, suggesting a potential Earth-like environment in the planet's past.
The study revealing these findings was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, shedding light on the geological history of Mars.
Patrick Gasda, from Los Alamos National Laboratory's Space Science and Applications group, expressed surprise at the high concentrations of manganese oxide in shoreline deposits, given the challenges of its formation on Mars' surface.
Gasda noted the absence of definitive life evidence on Mars and the unclear mechanisms behind oxygen production in its ancient atmosphere, highlighting the puzzle surrounding manganese oxide formation.
Developed by Los Alamos and CNES, the ChemCam instrument employed laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy to analyse elemental composition in rocks, enabling the detection of manganese enrichment in sedimentary rocks.
The sedimentary rocks examined by Curiosity rover comprised sands, silts, and muds, with the former being more porous, facilitating groundwater percolation compared to the latter.
The research explored how manganese enrichment occurred in the sands, possibly through groundwater percolation along lake shores or delta mouths, and identified potential oxidants responsible for manganese precipitation.
Principal investigator Nina Lanza highlighted the resemblance between Gale lake's ancient environment and Earth's current habitable zones, emphasizing the significance of the discovery in understanding Mars' geological evolution. "The Gale lake environment, as revealed by these ancient rocks, gives us a window into a habitable environment that looks surprisingly similar to places on Earth today," she said.