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Scientists at NASA's <keyword id="12756716" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Perseverance-Mars-rover-mission" source="Orion">Perseverance Mars rover mission</keyword> have discovered that rocks in the <keyword id="4183780" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="jezero" source="Orion">Jezero</keyword> Crater on the Red Planet have interacted with water multiple times over the eons and that some contain organic molecules.<br /><br />The team discovered the organic compounds on the 45 kilometres Jezero, which hosted a big lake and a river delta in the ancient past, using the <keyword id="10842370" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SHERLOC" source="Orion">SHERLOC</keyword> (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument.<br /><br />They found carbon-containing molecules not only in the interiors of abraded rocks that SHERLOC analysed, but also in the dust on non-abraded rock.<br /><br />However, in a statement the scientist said finding of organics "is not a confirmation that life once existed in Jezero and left telltale signs (biosignatures). There are both biological and non-biological mechanisms that create organics".<br /><br />Curiosity rover has also discovered organics at its landing site within Gale Crater.<br /><br />At the same time, the preservation of organics inside ancient rocks -- regardless of origin -- at both Gale and Jezero Craters does hint that potential biosignatures (signs of life, whether past or present) could be preserved, too, the scientists said.<br /><br />"This is a question that may not be solved until the samples are returned to Earth, but the preservation of organics is very exciting," said Luther Beegle, SHERLOC principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, in the statement.<br /><br />"When these samples are returned to Earth, they will be a source of scientific inquiry and discovery for many years," Beegle added.<br /><br />The findings were presented at the recently-held American Geophysical Union fall science meeting in New Orleans.<br /><br /><keyword id="30862" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="perseverance" source="Orion">Perseverance</keyword> has been collecting Martian rock samples in search of ancient microscopic life. Of Perseverance's 43 sample tubes, six have been sealed to date -- four with rock cores, one with Martian atmosphere, and one that contained "witness" material to observe any contamination the rover might have brought from Earth.<br /><br />Mars Sample Return seeks to bring select tubes back to Earth, where generations of scientists will be able to study them with powerful lab equipment far too large to send to Mars.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the scientists also discovered that the Jezero Crater on the Red Planet where the six-wheeled explorer has been driving on since landing in February has organic is likely formed from red-hot magma.<br /><br />Using PIXL instrument, short for <keyword id="12756717" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="planetary-instrument-for-x-ray-lithochemistry" source="Orion">Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry</keyword>, scientists had a "good look at the abraded patch of a rock from the area nicknamed 'South Seitah'".<br /><br />The "texture indicates the rock formed when crystals grew and settled in a slowly cooling magma -- for example a thick lava flow, lava lake, or magma chamber", said Ken Farley, Perseverance Project Scientist from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, in the statement.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/constant-fii-selling-since-october-bleeds-indian-markets/articleshow/88339477.cms">Constant FII selling since October bleeds Indian markets; IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, ONGC top losers</a><br /></strong><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/netflix-vs-disney-plus-hotstar-plans-compared/articleshow/88339217.cms"><strong>Netflix vs Disney+ Hotstar: Subscription plans compared</strong></a><br />

NASA's Perseverance rover discovers organic chemicals on Mars

<ul><li>The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned a public release of this data from <keyword id="414120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chandrayaan-2">Chandrayaan 2</keyword> in October. </li><li>This is the same data that the Indian space agency is already using to create the highest resolution 3D map of the Moon. </li><li>The data packet will include insights from all eight of the orbiter’s instruments. </li></ul>The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that it will be publicly releasing all the science data from Chandrayaan-2 for global use. And, this includes the images that went behind creating the highest-resolution 3D map of the Moon.<br /><br />The orbiter is home to eight out of the 14 payloads, or instruments, that were aboard Chandrayaan-2 when it took off from Earth. Even though Vikram — Chandrayaan 2’s lander — didn’t make it, the orbiter has still been looking high and low for new discoveries, including the presence of water. <br /><br />  <div type="image" title="Orbiter crater" msid="77103840" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;3D view of crater near Lindbergh. The triplet images from TMC-2 when processed into Digital Elevation Models, enable mapping of surface landform morphologies. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br /><strong>ISRO’s highest resolution 3D map of the Moon<br /></strong>The Indian space agency’s initial plans to release the data were scrapped when the 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. <br /><br />Instead, it released the draft of one of the projects that it was working — the highest resolution 3D map of the Moon. The Chandrayaan 2 orbiter is using the four instruments it has onboard to capture details of what’s on and below the lunar surface. <br /><br />  <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="74648255" title="Sneak peek at the highest-resolution 3D map of the Moon that Chandrayaan 2’s orbiter is putting together" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><br />The 3D representation of the Moon will help serve as a guide to future missions and even point out where large reserves of water or other elements are most likely to be hidden.<br /><br /><strong>List of instruments onboard the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter:<br /></strong><br /><ul><li>Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC 2)</li><li>Chandrayaan 2 Large Area Soft Spectrometer (CLASS)</li><li>Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM)</li><li>Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC)</li><li>Imaging IR Spectrometer (IIRS)</li><li>Chandrayaan 2 Atmospheric Compositional Explore 2 (CHASE 2)</li><li>Dual Frequency Radio Science (DFRS) experiment</li></ul><strong>The hunt for water on the Moon<br /></strong>One of the main instruments being used to create the map is also a key payload for ISRO in its hunt for water. The Imaging IR Spectrometer (IIRS) is analysing the surface for the presence of water but it’s also mapping for minerals and volatility. <br /><br />To support IIRS findings, the Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) will be trying to provide a quantitative estimate of exactly how much is present below the surface. <br /><br />  <div type="image" title="orbiter SAR_edited" msid="77103858" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Data captured by Chandrayaan&amp;#39;s SAR instrument&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br /><strong>Peering through the darkness<br /></strong>Using the Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) can capture images at 0.25 meters per pixel. The only other instruments going around the Moon that come anywhere close to the same level of accuracy is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that can capture pictures of the Moon at 0.5 meters per pixel.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="orbiter boulders oHRC_edited" msid="77103890" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Close up view of boulders on the lunar surface taken by the OHRC onboard the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />What makes the data from OHRC even more unique is that it can even capture images during underlit conditions. So, when a particular region may not be illuminated by sunlight, the orbiter will still be able to peer through the darkness to capture the crater floors of the Moon.<br /><br />The OHRC is working alongside the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC 2), the Imaging Infrared Spectrometer (IIRS), and the Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DFSAR) to create the 3D map. <br /><br />The TMC2 has an additional purpose to help scientists on Earth gain a better understanding of the Moon’s evolution. <br /><br /><strong>Minerals and precious metals<br /></strong>One of the instruments not involved in the making of the 3D map but has data of its own to offer is the Chandrayaan 2 Large Area Soft X-Ray Spectrometer (CLASS). It’s on the hunt for major elements like Aluminium, Magnesium, Silicon, Calcium, Sodium, Iron or Titanium near the Moon’s South Pole. <br /><br />The Solar X-Ray Monitor (XSM) helps CLASS analyse its own data by measuring the intensity of the X-Rays emitted by the Sun and its corona.<br /><br />Finally, the Chandrayaan 2 Atmospheric Compositional Explorer 2 (CHACE 2) has been gathering data from the lunar exosphere to carry an in-situ study of its composition and durability. <br /><strong><br />SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isro-to-release-chandrayaan-2-data-globally-from-october/articleshow/77099193.cms">ISRO to release Chandrayaan-2 data globally from October</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isro-shares-first-discovery-from-chandrayaan-2-orbiter/articleshow/71435228.cms">India’s shares its first discovery from Chandrayaan 2’s ‘flash photography’</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/chandrayaan-2-is-not-just-looking-for-water-on-the-moon/articleshow/70974829.cms"><strong>Chandrayaan 2 is not just looking for water on the moon</strong></a><br />

Chandrayaan 2’s data release will include the highest-resolution 3D map of the Moon and information from its 8 high tech instruments

Ever heard the phrase “Genesis in Stone,” which implies that rocks or stone formations could hold crucial information about the origins of life or the early conditions of a planet? Well, it perfectly captures the essence of NASA’s latest discovery on <keyword id="47638" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mars" source="Orion">Mars</keyword>. <br /><br />NASA’s <keyword id="19945326" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Perseverance-rover" source="keywords">Perseverance rover</keyword> has stumbled upon a vein-filled rock that could be a time capsule from an ancient Martian era. It has been nicknamed ‘<keyword id="22551289" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cheyava-Falls" source="keywords">Cheyava Falls</keyword>’, after a waterfall in the Grand Canyon, US. This arrowhead-shaped rock could provide critical insights into the long-debated question of whether Mars once harboured microscopic life.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Organic compounds, leopard spots and olivine crystals" comment="subhead" text="Organic compounds, leopard spots and olivine crystals"><span data-til="noop">Organic compounds, <keyword id="22554265" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="leopard-spots" source="keywords">leopard spots</keyword> and <keyword id="22554266" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="olivine-crystals" source="keywords">olivine crystals</keyword></span></cmsannotation><br />This rock—the rover's 22nd rock core sample—was collected on July 21 from the northern edge of Neretva Vallis. This ancient river valley, 400 metres wide, was carved by water that once rushed into Jezero Crater.<br /><br />Onboard instruments have analysed Cheyava Falls and discovered qualities that suggest it could be an indicator of ancient life. The rock exhibits chemical signatures and structures that might have formed billions of years ago, back when the area was rich with running water.<br /><br />The rover's SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman &amp; Luminescence for Organics &amp; Chemicals) instrument has performed multiple scans of Cheyava Falls, detecting organic compounds within it. However, these carbon-based molecules, considered the building blocks of life, can also form through non-biological processes. <br /><br />Cheyava Falls measures 3.2 feet by 2 feet and has several intriguing characteristics. It features large white calcium sulphate veins running through it and bands of reddish material, suggesting the presence of hematite—a mineral responsible for Mars's rusty colour.<br /><br />Closer inspection of these red regions revealed millimetre-sized off-white splotches, each ringed with black material resembling leopard spots. Perseverance's PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) determined that these black halos contain iron and phosphate. On Earth, such features in rocks often indicate a fossilised record of microbes that once lived below the surface.<br /><br />These leopard spots can form in sedimentary terrestrial rocks when chemical reactions involving hematite transform the rock from red to white. These reactions can release iron and phosphate, potentially causing the black halos to appear. Such reactions can serve as an energy source for microbes, explaining the association between these features and microbial life on Earth.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="Mars leopard spots" msid="112035966" hostid="261" sizebytes="108566" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;An annotated version of the image of “Cheyava Falls” indicates the markings akin to leopard spots and the olivine in the rock. The image was captured by the WATSON instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on July 18.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />The organic matter and leopard spots aren't the only intriguing aspects of Cheyava Falls. The science team was also surprised to discover millimetre-sized olivine crystals within the veins. This mineral forms from magma, suggesting the olivine might be related to rocks formed higher up the river valley rim, possibly through the crystallisation of magma.<br /><br />It is important to note that scientists have been unable to determine exactly how the rock formed and to what extent nearby rocks may have contributed to its features. They may be able to dig out more information, but only after the rock sample returns to Earth.<br /><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111898966" title="Freaky finding: NASA&amp;#39;s Curiosity rover has found something on Mars that shouldn’t have existed there!" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>“We have zapped that rock with lasers and X-rays and imaged it literally day and night from just about every angle imaginable. Scientifically, Perseverance has nothing more to give,” said Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist of Caltech in Pasadena. <br /><br />“To fully understand what really happened in that Martian river valley at Jezero Crater billions of years ago, we'd want to bring the Cheyava Falls sample back to Earth, so it can be studied with the powerful instruments available in laboratories.”<br /><br />Until then, Cheyava Falls will continue to be an intriguing piece of the Martian puzzle, further motivating humanity to unravel the cosmic mysteries of life's origins hidden in Mars’ landscape.<br />

Perseverance rover has found a rock with potential signs of ancient life on Mars! Scientists can’t wait to bring it back

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA launched Europa Clipper to see if <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oxygen-europa-life-surface-ocean-subsurface-earth-juno-mission-jupiter-2024-3">Jupiter's moon Europa</a> could host alien life.</li><li>Scientists think Europa contains a vast saltwater ocean deep beneath its surface.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-could-tell-us-aliens-are-real-2023-2">NASA is serious about searching for alien life</a>, even within our own solar system.</p><p>On Monday, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the agency launched a spacecraft toward Europa, a moon of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jupiter-images-webb-sees-rings-moons-hubble-cant-2022-8">Jupiter</a>.</p><p>Scientists believe Europa contains a vast saltwater ocean deep beneath its icy crust, with twice as much water as Earth. It's perhaps the most promising place in our solar system for active <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asks-help-retrieving-perseverance-mars-samples-alien-life-2024-4">extraterrestrial life</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Europa" height="1700" width="2300" msid="114225773" hostid="261" sizebytes="181080"></div><p>The NASA mission, called Europa Clipper, aims to figure out whether <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-lava-from-moon-volcanoes-creates-jupiters-powerful-aurora-lights-2022-2">the Jupiter moon</a> and its ocean could support life. It's the largest interplanetary spacecraft NASA has ever built. The probe is about 16 feet tall and, when its vast wings of solar arrays are deployed, 100 feet wide. It weighs three-and-a-half tons.</p><p>Clipper is undertaking the first targeted exploration of an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-underwater-rover-hunt-alien-life-on-ocean-worlds-2019-11">ocean world</a> beyond our planet.</p><p>Even if there is no life on Europa, this mission is crucial in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-contact-with-aliens-2019-9">search for alien life</a>, since ocean worlds across the galaxy are prime candidates for life.</p><p>Missions like Europa Clipper are "modern cathedrals" and "generational quests," said Laurie Leshin, the director of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-helicopter-pilot-what-job-is-like-advice-2023-1">NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a>, which built the spacecraft.</p><div type="image" title="giant spacecraft folded up between red Airbus panels with a large round foil-covered piece on the front with technicians in blue clean suits standing nearby in a giant white clearnroom" height="1280" width="1920" msid="114225774" hostid="261" sizebytes="132976"></div><p>"We scientists have been dreaming about a mission like Europa Clipper for more than 20 years. We've been working to build it for 10 years," she added in a briefing about the mission in September. "It's going to be another 10 years, because <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-animation-planetary-scientist-huge-solar-system-2019-11">Jupiter's so far away</a>, until we have all the science in the bag."</p><p>The spacecraft must travel 1.8 billion miles to get to Jupiter, getting a boost from Mars's gravity along the way. It's scheduled to arrive in April 2030.</p><h2 id="ccd765aa-2885-424c-ab06-309d5a9fdb77">A 7-body problem and unfathomable radiation</h2><p>Life exists without sunlight at the bottom of the ocean here on Earth. All it needs is an energy source, like hydrothermal vents which release heat from deep within the planet, and organic molecules containing essential elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen.</p><p>Europa Clipper is carrying nine scientific instruments to look for the fingerprints of those molecules, measure the salinity and depth of the underground ocean, and take photos of Europa down to one meter of resolution, among other things.</p><div type="image" title="illustration of a spacecraft with long wings of solar panels above a white moon covered in crisis crossed brown lines with jupiter in the distant background in space" height="1121" width="1995" msid="114225771" hostid="261" sizebytes="107104"></div><p>"Clipper is not actually going to look for life itself, but it's going to characterize the habitability of Europa," Gina DiBraccio, the acting director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said in the briefing.</p><p>The mission is designed to orbit Jupiter and fly past Europa 49 times, each time soaring over a different area to eventually cover almost the entire moon, pole to pole. The spacecraft will skim as close as 16 miles above Europa's surface.</p><p>The mission plan is a marvel of engineering. Rather than a three-body problem, falling into orbit around Jupiter is a "seven-body problem" because of the planet's large moons, Jordan Evans, the mission's project manager, said in the briefing.</p><p>During each flyby, Clipper will bathe in radiation from Jupiter that's equivalent to "a few million chest X-rays," Evans added.</p><p>It might even find out if Europa's ice really <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-jupiter-oceanic-moon-europa-radioactive-glow-2020-11">glows in the dark from that radiation</a>, as NASA research has previously indicated.</p>

NASA launches a probe to find out if there really could be alien life on Jupiter's moon Europa

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Mars just scored another <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-discovers-potential-alien-life-evidence-biosignature-perseverance-rover-mars-2024-7">point in favor of alien life</a>.</li><li>Scientists discovered signs of an ocean's worth of liquid water miles below Mars' surface.</li></ul><p>Mars is looking more and more like a place for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-could-tell-us-aliens-are-real-2023-2">NASA to find the first signs of alien life</a>.</p><p>Scientists discovered evidence of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/groundwater-pumping-causes-earth-rotational-pole-to-shift-study-finds-2023-7">reservoir of liquid water</a> seven to 13 miles below the Martian surface, lingering in the pores of the planet's crust.</p><p>They believe there's enough to cover the entire planet with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-death-star-moon-mimas-may-have-a-secret-ocean-2022-1">an ocean</a> about one mile deep.</p><p>The water, if it exists, is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-discover-underground-moon-cave-astronauts-could-live-2024-7">too deep to access</a> in the foreseeable future. Still, it's another promising sign that Mars could one day yield the most disruptive discovery in human history — that of life beyond Earth.</p><p>The discovery, announced Monday, comes just weeks after <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asks-help-retrieving-perseverance-mars-samples-alien-life-2024-4">NASA's Perseverance rover</a> drilled a rock sample on Mars that could contain evidence of microbial life from a bygone era.</p><div type="image" title="gritty yellow ring with speckled solid rock sample inside" height="1400" width="1471" msid="112479167" hostid="261" sizebytes="125234"></div><p>Ancient remnants of long-extinct <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-contact-with-aliens-2019-9">alien life</a> are all NASA can hope for on the parched Martian surface. But any sizeable source of liquid water,<strong> </strong>like these potential underground reservoirs, is a place to check for active microbial life — even though water 10 miles underground would never see the light of day.</p><p>"It's certainly true on Earth — deep, deep mines host life, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seamount-new-species-schmidt-ocean-institute-expedition-marine-chile-2024-2">the bottom of the ocean hosts life</a>. We haven't found any evidence for life on Mars, but at least we have identified a place that should, in principle, be able to sustain life," Michael Manga, a co-author of the study and planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/08/12/scientists-find-oceans-of-water-on-mars-its-just-too-deep-to-tap/">said</a> in a press release.</p><h2 id="aaa09a5d-96fd-42cc-8177-e2c4153862f8">Marsquakes helped NASA find water clues</h2><p>When <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-lander-detects-big-mars-quakes-2021-9">NASA put a seismometer on Mars</a>, aboard its InSight lander, the goal was to peer into the planet's interior.</p><div type="image" title="mars brown planet with blue-black and white splotches in the black of space" height="1920" width="1920" msid="112479165" hostid="261" sizebytes="112220"></div><p>Though <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-lander-mission-ending-dust-power-crisis-2022-12">the InSight mission ended</a> in 2022, scientists are still sifting through all the data it collected in hopes of learning something new about Mars's depths.</p><p>InSight's seismometer instrument <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-lander-missing-big-mars-quakes-2021-4">measured Marsquake activity</a>, mapping seismic waves. As those waves move through the Martian interior, their timing and the direction they travel are influenced by the material they're traveling through deep underground.</p><p>So, by measuring the waves, the scientists of the new study<strong> </strong>can tell what's underneath the planet's surface. It's similar to how the waves of an X-ray or CAT scan can reveal what's inside a human body.</p><p>Manga and his colleagues used mathematical modeling to determine that a deep layer of fractured igneous rock, saturated with water, best explains InSight's data. Their findings were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2409983121">published</a> in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.</p><div type="image" title="illustration of a column cutout of mars planetary interior beneath the insight lander with a deep layer of cracked rock with water in the cracks" height="825" width="1000" msid="112479161" hostid="261" sizebytes="95798"></div><h2 id="a0164bcd-c556-4a64-a741-6c029fdf4ce2">A clue in a Mars mystery</h2><p>In addition to being downright fascinating and potentially overturning humanity's conception of Mars as a lifeless, dry red rock, the new findings may help solve one of the planet's greatest mysteries: where all the water went.</p><p>Mars's surface was once lush with water. Heck, the Perseverance rover is exploring a basin that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-rover-landing-jezero-crater-search-for-alien-life-2021-2">used to be a giant lake and river delta</a>.</p><p>But the planet didn't have a strong magnetic field, like Earth's, to help it hold onto its atmosphere. As a result, the sun's radiation wore away what little protective layer of atmospheric gases existed, and the planet dried up.</p><p>By about 3 billion years ago, all the water was gone. Some of it is still frozen in Mars's ice caps. Perhaps some simply vaporized in the harsh space environment. But scientists haven't really figured out where it all went.</p><p>The new findings suggest some of the water seeped deep into the planet's crust.</p>

Another point for life on Mars: Signs of liquid water discovered under the planet's surface

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In August, India became the first country to successfully land near the moon's south pole. </li><li>Since touchdown, the moon lander and rover have already made some important discoveries. </li></ul><p>India's mission to the moon <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-moon-landings-on-lunar-south-pole-crashed-2023-8" rel="">made history</a> last month when the country <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-india-attempt-first-ever-moon-landing-2023-8" rel="">became the first to successfully land</a> near the lunar south pole. But landing was just the beginning. </p><p>Both the mission's Vikram lander and its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-moon-rover-to-collect-first-samples-lunar-south-pole-2023-8" rel="">adorable dog-sized Pragyan rover</a> wasted no time in studying the lunar south pole region with the suite of scientific instruments they brought with them.</p><h2>1. Presence of sulfur</h2><p>One of Pragyan's first discoveries was confirming the presence of sulfur on the lunar surface, a feat that was not previously possible from orbiting satellites, the Indian Space Research Organization said in a press release. </p><p>The rover fired intense laser pulses at the lunar surface with its Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy instrument. The laser then generated a hot, bright plasma. Scientists then study the light from that plasma to identify the various elements in the sample, like sulfur. </p><h2>2. Other elements found on the surface</h2><p>It's not just sulfur — in preliminary analyses, Pragyan has also detected the presence of aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, and titanium. And ISRO said that it's also hunting for the presence of hydrogen.</p><p>The rover's discoveries could help scientists figure out how to mine <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-moon-rover-to-collect-first-samples-lunar-south-pole-2023-8">water on the moon</a>, an advancement that would be critical for future lunar bases.</p><p>After all, the lunar poles are some of the most water-rich regions on the moon. They contain enough water ice to fill at least 240,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, per <a href="https://www.planetary.org/articles/water-on-the-moon-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Planetary Society</a>.</p><h2><div type="image" title="image of the lander on the moon" height="768" width="1024" msid="103644554" hostid="261"></div>3. A potential moonquake </h2><p>Three days after landing on the moon, the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload on the Vikram lander detected an "event," ISRO said in a statement. </p><p>The rumblings could be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/indias-moon-lander-detects-signs-of-possible-moonquake-2023-9">evidence of a moonquake</a>, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/space/the-moon/indias-lunar-lander-finds-1st-evidence-of-a-moonquake-in-decades" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Live Science</a> reported.</p><p>ILSA is designed to detect vibrations on the lunar surface, and this "event" was significant compared to the soft rumblings it had measured from the rover driving around on the surface. </p><p>"The source of this event is currently under investigation," ISRO said in the statement. </p><h2>4. Temperature changes underground</h2><p>Vikram has also measured the soil temperature near the lunar south pole both on the surface and underground, for the first time. The probe measured 3 inches into the soil, and found it was about 140 degrees F colder than at the surface. </p><div type="image" title="Tracks of India's moon rover on the moon." height="860" width="1147" msid="103644555" hostid="261"></div><p>The sunlight from the lunar day doesn't penetrate into the layers beneath the lunar surface. </p><p>This phenomenon is something you can observe on Earth too, Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist at University of Colorado Boulder, <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=ba0dcd95fb9c96981205ca3ef8c02157b5d542f4d5b9107fb239d6a583c77110&amp;postID=6501d08fe674062ff7ccf5b0&amp;postSlug=india-vikram-lunar-lander-moon-discoveries-2023-9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-023-02852-7%3Futm_source%3DNature%2BBriefing%26utm_campaign%3D670ab68070-briefing-dy-20230911%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3D0_c9dfd39373-670ab68070-45928806" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Nature</a>. He says it's the same thing you can feel by digging your hands down into the sand on a hot day <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-beaches-in-the-us-2015-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at the beach</a> — if you wriggle your fingers far enough down, the earth will be cool, unaffected by the suns rays.</p><p>Scientists hope the measurements they take will help them understand the moon's thermal behavior, ISRO said. </p><h2>5. First measurement of the moon's ionosphere</h2><p>Another device on the Vikram lander called the Langmuir probe, which helps characterize plasma, has been able to measure the density and temperature of the moon's ionosphere for the first time, Nature reported.  </p><p>There's still a lot to be learned about the moon's south pole region. Right now the solar-powered Vikram lander and its rover are scheduled to reawaken later this month after a 14-day night.</p><p>The instruments are set to recharge over this fourteen day period. But there's a chance that the rover might not reawaken, because their electronics might die in the extreme cold of the lunar night, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/4/indias-moon-rover-completes-walk-put-into-sleep-mode" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Al Jazeera reported</a>.</p><p>Pallava Bagla, an author whose written about India's space exploration, told Al Jazeera that India doesn't have access to technology that withstands temperatures less than -184 Fahrenheit. Nighttime temperatures on the moon have been measured as low as -334 F, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/moons-south-pole-is-full-of-mystery-science-intrigue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to NASA</a>.</p><p>Even so, ISRO reports are optimistic. "Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador," <a href="https://twitter.com/PTI_News/status/1698012649382875298/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">ISRO said on X,</a> formerly Twitter.</p>

India's moon lander is the first to study the lunar south pole region up close. Here are 5 scientific discoveries it has already made.

It didn't take long for <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>'s Chandrayaan-3 mission to make waves after its momentous soft-landing on the <keyword id="42440" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="moon" source="Orion">Moon</keyword>. In a matter of days, scientists found themselves pondering the causes of the newly discovered enigmatic moonquakes and overheating occurrences on the lunar surface. However, one revelation, in particular, had researchers brimming with anticipation: the unearthing of <keyword id="4417611" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sulphur" source="Orion">sulphur</keyword>.<br /><br />Scientists were aware of the existence of sulphur deposits on the Moon, but they were considered too scant to be of much use. However, this recent discovery turned that assumption on its head.<br /><br />If you were to examine images of the Moon, you'd notice patches of dark and white covering its entire surface. The dark areas consist of volcanic rock, which typically contains higher concentrations of sulphur compared to the white "highlands" material. Volcanic activity causes sulphur-rich rocks deep within the Moon to melt, and they later surface as magma, which eventually cools to form these dark regions.<br /><br />During this process, some of this sulphur inadvertently escapes into the Moon's thin atmosphere. Scientists believe that this sulphur would eventually have made its way to the lunar poles, where the frigid temperatures, dropping as low as -230°C due to the lack of consistent direct sunlight, would cause the element to solidify on the surface.<br /><br />This theory of condensation could explain why the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer and the LIBS instruments on Chandrayaan-3's <keyword id="7723302" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="pragyan-rover" source="Orion">Pragyan Rover</keyword> detected sulphur near the landing site. Further calibration will be necessary to confirm the findings, but initial data suggests that sulphur levels in this area might be significantly higher than those in the volcanic rock near the lunar equator.<br /><br />Planetary scientist Jeffrey Gillis-Davis suggests that the mysterious concentrations of polar sulphur could also have resulted from ancient volcanic eruptions in the region. Meteorites carrying sulphur might have transported substantial amounts of the element when they collided with the Moon in the past.<br /><br />Sulphur holds great promise for a variety of applications in Moon exploration and potential habitation. Given the challenges and expenses of shuttling between <keyword id="6359982" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="earth" source="Orion">Earth</keyword> and the Moon, not to mention the risks involved, having access to abundant local resources can be a literal lifesaver!<br /><br />Jeffrey proposes that scientists could use sulphur to create waterless concrete for building Moon bases and produce sulphur-based solar cells, batteries, and even fertilisers for potential farming operations. The limited water we transport to our lunar neighbour could then be redirected for essential purposes like producing drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel.<br /><br />Despite the challenges faced by Chandrayaan-3's <keyword id="7864315" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vikram-lander" source="Orion">Vikram Lander</keyword> and Pragyan Rover in reactivating from their planned slumber, the data gathered by this historic spacecraft is invaluable and is sure to benefit all future lunar missions. When mainstream society eventually takes the inevitable leap to the Moon, they will have ISRO to thank for these groundbreaking discoveries.<br />

Lunar bounty: Chandrayaan-3's sulphur discovery could help us get much closer to building Moon colonies

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Harvard physicist Avi Loeb announced the discovery of tiny "spherules" at the bottom of the Pacific.</li><li>He said these spherules may be from an alien technology outside of our solar system.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aliens-ufo-harvard-expert-avi-loeb-meteor-spaceship-science-astrophysics-2023-7">Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb</a> announced that he and his team discovered fragments of material at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that may potentially be linked to aliens.</p><p>The fragments "could be a spacecraft from another civilization, or some technological gadget," Loeb told <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/avi-loeb-harvard-professor-alien-technology-fragments-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a>.</p><p>But experts who have been searching for alien life for many years told Insider they aren't sold on the idea that <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac8eac/pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Loeb's findings</a> represent evidence of alien intelligence.</p><p>"I like wild and crazy ideas — they make us all think — occasionally one of them might be right. But I'm extremely skeptical about this one," said <a href="https://seti.berkeley.edu/people/Dan.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dan Werthimer</a>, chief technologist of the SETI Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.</p><h2>'A lot of unknowns' in the data</h2><p>Loeb's team found 50 sub-millimeter-sized "spherules" that he said he thinks came from an interstellar meteoroid, which he named IM1, that crashed into waters near Papua New Guinea in 2014.</p><p>Both the speed of the meteor and the composition of the spherules is why Loeb thinks they may be of possible alien origin. But experts aren't convinced.</p><p>"As I look at the data, there are just a lot of unknowns," said <a href="http://meti.org/en/board/douglas-vakoch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Douglas Vakoch</a>, president of <a href="http://meti.org/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI)</a>, an organization that searches for signs of extraterrestrial life by transmitting intentional signals to nearby stars.</p><h2><div type="image" title="allen telescope array ata seti institute" height="987" width="1484" msid="102041992" hostid="261" sizebytes="97790"></div></h2><h2>The meteroid's speed was calculated from incomplete data, experts said</h2><p>Loeb proposed that the meteor IM1 was of interstellar origin in a <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.07224.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paper</a> he published in 2019. To estimate its speed, he and a student used data from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies, which tracks the speed and trajectory of objects in space that travel close to, and occasionally hit, Earth.</p><p>Loeb wrote in a first-hand account on <a href="https://avi-loeb.medium.com/summary-of-the-successful-interstellar-expedition-61ff4467070d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Medium</a>:</p><p>"[The data] showed that IM1 was moving outside the solar system faster than 95% of all stars in the vicinity of the Sun. The possibility that IM1's excess speed benefited from propulsion and the fact that it was tougher than all known space rocks, raise the possibility that it may have been technological in origin."</p><p>Bu Werthimer pointed out that the radar used to detect the meteor is known to make mistakes on the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/483/4/5166/5256650" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speed of meteors</a> that come in at a shallow angle — like this one did — compared to other instruments.</p><p>That said, US Space Command followed up on Loeb's calculations and, in 2022, issued a <a href="https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/DoD.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">formal letter</a> to NASA confirming IM1's interstellar origin with 99.999% confidence.</p><p>"The velocity estimate reported to NASA is sufficiently accurate to indicate an interstellar trajectory," the letter stated.</p><p>But it doesn't matter what any government official tells you — the DOD statement has no standing in the scientific community, Vakoch said, echoing the <a href="https://gizmodo.com/interstellar-meteor-2014-scientists-skeptical-1848782995" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concerns of some astrophysicists</a>.</p><h2>The composition of the spherules could mean something totally different</h2><p>Let's forget about the meteor for a second. What about those peculiar spherule fragments?</p><p>Loeb wrote in Medium that "based on the measured abundance of U238, Pb206, U235 and Pb207," in two of the collected spherules, their age was closer to the age of the universe than the age of our solar system.</p><p>"In the coming weeks we will examine further any clue for the spherules being different from solar system materials. This will constitute independent evidence for the interstellar origin of IM1 in addition to its measured speed," Loeb wrote.</p><p>Some experts are still skeptical. <a href="https://www.open.ac.uk/people/mmg67" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Monica Grady</a>, professor of planetary and space sciences at The Open University, wrote in <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicist-who-found-spherical-meteor-fragments-claims-they-may-come-from-an-alien-spaceship-heres-what-to-make-of-it-209101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> that spherules from space have been found at the bottom of the ocean as far back as 1872 by the HMS Challenger.</p><p>Nowadays, it can be difficult to tell the difference between spherules and products of industrial pollution.</p><p>Vakoch agreed, saying that, "I don't see anything in the reports of these metallic spheroids that suggests anything close to them being an alien technology, or even necessarily something from outside our solar system."</p><p>Loeb said that early reports of the spherules' chemical composition were from a small sample and not representative of the full collection. Moreover, "the X-ray Fluorescence analyzer used on the ship was blind to some elements," he told Insider over email.</p><p>Now that he's back on land, he said the team has shared the materials with three leading labs that "include world experts with state-of-the-art diagnostic instruments, such as X-ray fluorescence analyzers, mass spectrometers, and scanning electron microscopes," to analyze the spherules' composition in more detail.</p><p>Loeb told Insider that, when ready, the team will publish their findings in a scientific paper that will be "shared openly and submitted for a peer-reviewed journal."</p><p>In the meantime, experts will likely remain skeptical until more concrete proof presents itself.</p><p>"I'm very optimistic about life in the universe — I think it's likely to be teeming with life — but this is not evidence for it," Werthimier said.</p>

The world's top alien hunters explain why a Harvard physicist's discovery of 'alien' tech is likely a false alarm

4 experts explain why Elon Musk's plan to colonize Mars is 'romanticized', not 'realistic', 'cosmic vandalism'

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>'s Perseverance rover has landed in Jezero Crater, beginning a new era of exploration on Mars.</li><li>The rover is poised to spend the next two years searching for fossils of microbial alien life.</li><li>It carries the first interplanetary helicopter, and it will test tech that could help astronauts.</li></ul><p>NASA's <keyword id="9569864" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="perseverance-mars-rover">Perseverance Mars rover</keyword> has successfully landed in the red planet's Jezero Crater.</p><p>The touchdown of the nuclear-powered robot is the first step in what could be a decadelong effort to bring the first samples of Martian rock - possibly including alien fossils - back to Earth.</p><p>The rover, nicknamed "Percy" by its engineers, launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in July and traveled 300 million miles to Mars.</p><p>On Thursday, the capsule carrying Perseverance screamed through the Martian atmosphere at about 12,000 mph, released a 70-foot-wide <keyword id="6675912" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="parachute">parachute</keyword> to slow its fall, and then dropped its heat shield. That gave the rover's cameras and radar system a view of the landscape below, which an onboard navigation system used to find a safe landing spot.</p><div type="image" title="mars perseverance rover nasa entry descent landing parachute" height="1080" width="1440" msid="81100169" hostid="261"></div><p>About 1 mile above the Martian surface, the capsule dropped the rover. A <keyword id="480985" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="jetpack">jetpack</keyword> attached to the robot fired up its engines and steered Perseverance to its landing site, avoiding hazardous boulder fields, sand dunes, and 200-foot cliffs. Then the jetpack gently lowered the rover on 25-foot nylon cords until its wheels touched the ground.</p><p>At 3:55 p.m. ET, NASA mission managers received the signal that the rover had touched down, and mission control burst into cheers and applause.</p><p>"The team is beside themselves. It's so surreal," Rob Manning, the chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said after the signal came through.</p><p>Perseverance then quickly sent its first two images from the Martian surface.</p><div type="image" title="perseverance rover mars landing first images nasa" height="1000" width="2000" msid="81100412" hostid="261"></div><p>"We took these the second after landing. There's still dust in the air from our landing event," Manning said. "This is what NASA does. This is what we can do as a country."</p><p>Perseverance is decked out with cameras and a microphone that should have recorded its entire descent - a first for a <keyword id="1174940" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars-landing">Mars landing</keyword>. Additional images and even video footage could reach Earth as early as this weekend. NASA engineers expect to have full video footage of the landing after a few weeks. (It takes a long time for the rover to beam all that data across space.)</p><h2>A hunt for ancient alien microbes</h2><div type="image" title="mars rover perseverance helicoper ingenuity" height="1483" width="1977" msid="81100170" hostid="261"></div><p>This is NASA's fifth Mars-rover landing, but it's the first interplanetary mission to search for imprints of past alien life.</p><p>Perseverance is poised to spend the next two years exploring the ancient river delta that fed Mars' Lake Jezero about 3.5 billion years ago. Back then, alien microbes may have swum in the water that filled the crater and various rivers and lakes across the Martian surface.</p><p>As the river dumped mud and minerals at the mouth of Lake Jezero, it may have trapped colonies of microbes, forming fossil rocks called stromatolites. That's what Perseverance will look for along Jezero's ancient lake bed, shorelines, and river delta.</p><div type="image" title="jezero crater mars lake water illustration" height="1268" width="1690" msid="81100171" hostid="261"></div><p>But first, the rover will spend the next few weeks checking all of its systems and instruments. After that, it's set to release <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-first-interplanetary-helicopter-in-perseverance-mars-rover-belly-2020-7">the first interplanetary helicopter</a> for some test flights. Once the space drone has flown, Perseverance can begin hunting for signs of long-gone alien microbes.</p><p>The rover carries 43 sample tubes so that it can stash samples of rock and soil. NASA plans to send another mission to retrieve those vials and bring them back to Earth in the 2030s.</p><p>"Samples from Mars have potential to profoundly change our understanding of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system," Lori Glaze, the director of NASA's Planetary <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> Division, said in a briefing ahead of the landing. "Even now, NASA continues to study moon samples returned by the Apollo program more than 50 years ago. We expect samples of Mars to provide new knowledge for decades to come."</p><h2>Probing the history of a desert planet</h2><div type="image" title="perseverance mars rover jezero crater" height="1519" width="2700" msid="81100172" hostid="261"></div><p>Jezero Crater is the most dangerous landing site that any Mars mission has ever targeted, but the payoff could be great. Various mineral deposits across the crater's bed, the river delta, the ancient shorelines, and the crater rim hold a wide variety of rocks and soil. By collecting samples, Perseverance could help scientists learn about all kinds of environments on the red planet.</p><p>The rover carries seven scientific instruments that can analyze Martian rocks. It can capture images of rocks and soil in ultraviolet and visible light, probe them with radar, scan with X-rays to determine their composition, and search for organic compounds with a laser.</p><p>NASA's Perseverance team expects the rover to gather its first samples sometime in the summer.</p><p>The robot can also move about three times faster than its predecessors, so it could cover up to 10 miles in its first Mars year (two Earth years). After that, it's likely to get an extended mission that could take it up the crater's 1,600-foot rim. There, it would analyze the deep layers of rock cut in the Martian crust, which were exposed by a space object that struck the planet and created this crater billions of years ago. That investigation could provide insight into eons of Martian history.</p><div type="image" title="perseverance mars rover path nasa jezero crate" height="1414" width="2600" msid="81100174" hostid="261"></div><p>Even if Perseverance finds no alien fossils, that will be important information. To date, every habitable environment on Earth that scientists have examined has hosted life.</p><p>"If we do a deep exploration of Jezero Crater with the rover and its instruments ... and we find no evidence of life, we will have shown that in at least one place, there is a habitable environment that is not inhabited," Ken Farley, the project scientist for Perseverance, said in a pre-landing briefing. "If that's what we find, it would tell us something important: that habitability alone is not sufficient, that something else has to be present - some, perhaps, magic spark - that causes life to occur."</p><h2>Perseverance's cargo could revolutionize <keyword id="718929" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Space-exploration">space exploration</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="mars helicopter ingenuity flight nasa gif" height="360" width="640" msid="81100175" hostid="261"></div><p>The small drone Perseverance carries is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-first-interplanetary-helicopter-in-perseverance-mars-rover-belly-2020-7">called Ingenuity</a>. After its system checks, the rover should drive to an open field, unfold its belly panels, and lower the little helicopter for the first controlled flights on another planet.</p><p>Perseverance will attempt to record video of Ingenuity's flights. They could be the first demonstration of a new way to explore other planets.</p><p>The mission will also test technologies that could support future human expeditions to Mars. The rover's sophisticated landing-navigation system was the first of its kind, and future Mars astronauts may rely on similar technology. Perseverance also carries a device that can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, it's a prototype meant to test the technology on the red planet.</p><div type="image" title="mars human exploration settlement habitat astronauts martian" height="1135" width="1513" msid="81100176" hostid="261"></div><p>Oxygen is scarce in Mars' atmosphere, and it's unlikely that astronauts could bring enough of it to Mars to breathe there, let alone to fuel spaceships for the long journey home. So MOXIE aims to produce the crucial gas out of thin air.</p><div type="image" title="moxie mars perseverance rover Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment jpl" height="1335" width="1780" msid="81100178" hostid="261"></div><p>The device electrochemically splits the molecules into oxygen and carbon monoxide and combines the oxygen molecules into O2. It analyzes the product's purity, aiming for about 99.6% O2. Then it releases both the breathable oxygen and the carbon monoxide back into Mars' atmosphere. Future scaled-up devices would store the oxygen in tanks for astronauts and rockets to use.</p><p>Finally, Perseverance carries a small weather station to monitor dust, radiation, and weather changes on the planet - all things that future astronauts would need to keep an eye on.</p>

TOUCHDOWN ON MARS: NASA's Perseverance rover has landed safely after a supersonic plunge

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center found something very unexpected in a Martian crater.</p><p>Using the Curiosity Rover, the scientists detected a mineral called tridymite that, until now, they thought could only be created in extremely hot temperatures.</p><p>The discovery of this tridymite might rewrite the history of the planet, suggesting that it might once have been hotter than we previously thought, and home to monstrous volcanoes.</p><p>The scientists found the tridymite with a special instrument on the rover that shoots x-rays at material to identify the crystal structure of minerals.</p><p>"It was the last mineral we expected to see," said Richard Morris, NASA planetary scientist and lead author of this study. "If this stands test of time it has a lot of implications for how Mars evolved. We may have to rethink a few things."</p><p>On Earth, tridymite is formed at extremely high temperatures in an explosive process called silicic volcanism. Mt. St. Helens, known for having the deadliest volcanic event in American history, is an example of a silicic volcano.</p><p>These volcanoes form as a result of plate tectonics: Plates shifting in Earth's outer shell dive deep into the Earth's mantle, carrying water with them. They melt and form a mixture of molten rock, or magma, which forces its way to the surface, where it explodes and flows out. The combination of high silica content and extremely high temperatures in these volcanoes creates tridymite.</p><p>But as far as we know, Mars doesn't have water, or dynamic plates hidden beneath the surface, and its average temperature is pretty frigid. So where did this tridymite come from?</p><p>That's what scientists need to figure out now. And to do this, they'll either need to change their understanding of how Mars evolved, or change their understanding of how tridymite forms.</p><p>"We searched long and hard for terrestrial evidence that tridymite might form at low temperatures and not imply silicic volcanism," Morris said. We couldn't find any. This paper will cause a lot of researchers, including ourselves here at the Johnson Space Center, to look for ways it could form at lower temperatures."</p><p>The next step, Morris said, is for scientists to run experiments and reexamine terrestrial systems in more detail to look for evidence of tridymite. Either way, what they find will shake up our understanding of the Red Planet.</p><p>"Mars is a different place," Morris said. "Processes are different there. There may be something weird going on that we just don't recognize yet."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mars-spring-nasa-curiosity-rover-methane-gas-2016-5">NASA's Mars rover has measured something in the air that scientists can't explain</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="92cXBsMzE6EQYO0nAYHuXJ2UwCe9z0GU" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "planetary instrument for x ray lithochemistry" and got 11 results

NASA's Perseverance rover discovers organic chemicals on Mars

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Chandrayaan 2’s data release will include the highest-resolution 3D map of the Moon and information from its 8 high tech instruments

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India's moon lander is the first to study the lunar south pole region up close. Here are 5 scientific discoveries it has already made.

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The world's top alien hunters explain why a Harvard physicist's discovery of 'alien' tech is likely a false alarm

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