Some evidence of the existence of liquid water on Mars may be incorrect

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have stated that incorrect data processing, obtained by the Orbiter Mars Reconnaissance, could lead the probe to mistakenly identify the presence of hydrated salts on the red planet, reports Science News. .

This means that some areas of Mars, which at this stage assume the presence of liquid water and the conditions of life, may actually be dry and lifeless.

Experts have discovered a problem when searching for hydrated perchlorates on Mars maps, based on information obtained from the Visible and Near Infrared (CRISM) spectrometer. Perchlorate lowers the freezing temperature of water to 80 degrees, which makes possible the existence of liquid water on Mars. Traces of the presence of perchlorates in Martian soil have been discovered by the Phoenix spacecraft and Mars Curiosity rover.

The presence of minerals on the planet, the researchers tested for the reflection of different wavelengths of the surface due to a chemical in a particular way absorb and reflect light. However, the CRISM camera does not always work properly, so it detects reflected light spots where they should not be. Algorithms for correcting such errors sometimes make hollows in the spectrum at the same wavelength as perchlorate.

By adjusting the CRISM algorithm, researchers had the opportunity to examine the smallest traces of perchlorate on the surface of Mars. The result was that perchlorates cover almost the entire red planet. Further inspection revealed that the salts are present even in the absence of geological reason.

According to the scientists, this suggests that some data on the presence of perchlorates on the surface of Mars have proved to be false. The researchers point out that this does not mean at all that the salts on the red planet, but that this is harder to find.

About the author

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Ted Stone has been a writer since 2013. Before that, she wrote about the young teens and the family dynamics of Styles. She was a correspondent for the legal affairs of the metro. Before joining The Koz Week, Ted Stone was an editor at Village Voice and freelancer for Newsday, the Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella.