Shocking discovery of "life source" on Mars

(NLDO) - An "unbelievable" discovery at the equator of Mars could reorient exploration missions to this planet.

Two European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft orbiting Mars, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Mars Express, have confirmed the presence of a strange layer of frost on top of the Solar System's tallest volcano and a series of other volcanoes in the Tharsis region.

The tallest volcano in the Solar System - Mars' Olympus Mons - contains ice right on top - Photo: ESA

The Tharsis region is the largest volcanic region on Mars, the tallest of which is the famous Olympus Mons, which is about 2.5 times taller than Earth's Mount Everest.

Dr. Adomas Valantinas from Brown University (USA) and his colleagues identified this fragile, difficult-to-explain amount of frost when meticulously analyzing observational data from two ESA spacecraft.

“We think frost cannot form around Mars' equator, because the combination of sunlight and a thin atmosphere keeps temperatures relatively high at both the surface and the tops of mountains,” Dr Valantinas explained.

So the team thinks the existence of frost is interesting and suggests that there are special processes, not seen on Earth, going on on the red planet.

This layer of frost is extremely thin, with a thickness comparable to that of a human hair (about 1/100 mm).

Despite this, however, icy patches cover a large area of each volcano.

The volcanoes on Mars are so huge that the total amount of water from this frost could fill about 60 Olympic swimming pools, with a total volume of nearly 111 million liters of water.

The water also continuously swaps between the surface and the atmosphere of Mars every day — which lasts about 24.5 Earth hours — during the planet's cold season.

The Tharsis region is home to many giant volcanoes located in the middle of a vast plain on the Martian equator.

Along with Olympus Mons, this cluster of volcanoes also has three "brother" volcanoes, Tharsis Montes, including Ascraeus, Arsia Mons and Pavonis. Pavonis is as tall as Everest.

The existence of frost is not only evidence that the red planet is a world full of mysteries.

It's also big news for many space agencies, including the ESA, which has long planned for off-planet bases on the Moon and Mars.

This frost is a source of life, fuel for rockets, equipment... that can be mined locally, making these plans much easier than having to bring everything from Earth.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/phat-hien-nguon-song-gay-soc-o-sao-hoa-196240611154020806.htm