China’s Zhurong Mars rover has seen better days, but it did make a groundbreaking discovery.
The craft hasn’t moved for months, spurring speculation that something might have gone wrong with it. On Tuesday, a designer for the Chinese Mars missionthat the rover likely accumulated so much dust on its solar panels that it has been unable to power back up.
“Our findings provide useful clues for designing future exploration strategies for Mars rovers,” the study’s authors wrote. Specifically, future researchers should pay closer attention to “small depressions and encrusted soil surfaces” for evidence of saltwater on the Martian landscape. The findings add credence to the idea that Mars had water on it relatively recently. While most scientists agree that the Red Planet used to actually be fairly wet and covered with oceans that likely teemed with life, that all occurred billions of years ago. It’s since dried up, giving way to the rocky and sandy planet Mars is today.water on Mars as recently as 400,000 years ago. In the span of planetary history, that’s the blink of an eye.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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