Chinese Mars rover findings of minerals suggest water existed for longer on planet

Hydrated minerals discovered by China’s robotic rover on Mars in a vast basin believed to be the site of an ancient ocean suggest water was present on the planet’s surface for longer than previously thought, said Chinese scientists.

According to an analysis of data sent back by the rover, Zhurong, signs of water were detected in sampled minerals from just 700 million years ago, the scientists said in a paper published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

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Mars is believed to have been wet until about 3 billion years ago, when the planet’s second geological age, known as the
Hesperian Epoch, ended. In the current Amazonian period, there is no surface water.

Liu Tongjie, spokesman for China’s Mars exploration mission, speaks during an interview with Reuters, after the launch of the Long March 5 Y-4 rocket carrying an unmanned Mars probe of the Tianwen-1 mission, at Wenchang Space Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China, on July 23, 2020. (Reuters)

The soil containing the minerals Zhurong sampled had a hard crust that could have been formed by rising ground water or
melted ice that had since evaporated, the Chinese scientists wrote.

The Chinese rover has been exploring the vast plain of Utopia Planitia since its landing on the planet in May last year. Zhurong has travelled about 2 kilometers from its landing site as it gathers data on the terrain.

In recent years, data from an orbiting probe operated by the European Space Agency had discovered water under the ice of the
planet’s south pole.

Almost all of the water on Mars is locked in its polar ice caps, with very small traces in the planet’s thin atmosphere.

Locating subsurface water is key to determining the planet’s potential for life, as well as providing a permanent resource for any human exploration.

Read more: China plans its first crewed space mission to Mars in 2033