mouth at theEuropean Geophysical Unionin Vienna this week , a team of scientists read they have found strong evidence for Mars once having a lot more oxygen than it does currently . The results , if confirmed , would have authoritative implications for the likely ancient habitability of Mars .
As reported byNew Scientist , the results were presented by Agnès Cousin from the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse , France . The grounds stem from the bearing of manganese oxide in rocks study by the Curiosity rover in Gale crater . Oxygen on Mars has beenhinted at before , but this may be some of the unspoiled evidence yet .
The discovery ofmanganese oxideis important because it require large concentration of oxygen – in addition to H2O – to spring . That means these manganese oxide deposits , found in region of the crater where a lake in all probability once existed , hint not only at a highly oxidised atmosphere , but also flow H2O on Mars in the past tense .
“ We establish 3 percent of rocks have high manganese oxide contentedness , ” Cousin enounce . “ That requires abundant urine and strongly oxidizing conditions , so the atmosphere may have contained much more oxygen than we thought . ”
The current atmospheric state on Mars is 95 per centum carbon dioxide and 3 per centum N , with suggestion amounts of oxygen . This composition is vicious to lifespan as we cognise it . Earth ’s , by comparison , is 78 percentage N and 21 percent O , with shadow amounts of carbon copy dioxide .
But it ’s thought Mars may once have had more O , give rise either by chemic reactions in the air or , perhaps , by rude life-time on the aerofoil . The bearing of oxygen , therefore , may not have only meant a more habitable environment ( although too much could have been deadly ) , but it may also have been indicatory of the mien of living – something we are still unsure about today .
The find of manganese oxide is said to be the most lineal evidence that Mars once had O yet . However , it will take much more research – by Curiosity and future deputation , such asExoMars – to get to the bottom of it .
