Until now, the landing site of the first probe to explore Mars in 1976 has been a mystery to planetary exploration.
A study by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in Spain, the Institute for Planetary Sciences and the NASA Ames Research Center found that the spacecraft Viking 1 landed on Mars’ ancient tsunami deposits.
Findings show that an asteroid with a diameter of 3 to 9 km struck the shallow northern seas, resulting in the formation of the rocky plain where the US-launched rover landed.
Viking 1 lands Lower Mahavales, a huge channel formed by catastrophic river floods about 3.4 billion years ago It is located in the Chryse plain region.
The study, led by Planetary Science Institute researchers Alexis P. Rodríguez and UAB’s Maria Zambrano and Mario Zarroca, confirms that this information suggests the landing site was a good place to search. make it possible. Signs of life in soil samples, which was one of the mission’s main objectives.
However, the probe returned images of debris with no evidence of past floods, for which the sediments are composed of ejecta mantles caused by meteorite impacts or lava flow degradation, among others. An explanation was proposed, but no impact crater. A large amount of lava fragments.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, is based on identifying oceanic craters and simulating waves generated by asteroid impacts.
“Our simulations show that the tsunami was devastating, initially reaching heights of 250 meters and inundating coastal areas at least 2,000 km away from the impact crater. , contains huge basins where waves may have formed inland seas in the planet’s tropics,” Zaroka explained.
“Finding oceanic craters on Mars is extremely difficult, but understanding the evolution of Martian coastal environments is essential,” Rodriguez said.
The crater sits on top of a landscape formed by ocean-generated floods and is covered with sediment from the latest tsunami they’ve already mapped, the researchers say.
In this sense “It may contain a geological record detailing the evolution of the sea from formation to freezing.” I suggested Rodriguez.
At the time, NASA determined that there was no clear evidence that Mars was hiding or hiding signs of microbial life in the soil near its landing.
Vikings on Mars 1
However, the study derives a new geological context for interpreting the experiments and revisiting the astrobiological information gathered in the first in situ measurements on Mars.
In addition, this new context will enable new terrain characterizations to study potential habitable conditions.
“If salt found in the field is confirmed to be of marine origin,It will be possible to predict the brackish water composition of seawater that is much more freeze-resistant than land-sea. ” Zaroka insisted.
“This type of composition exists in several lakes on Earth, and these contain organisms that can live in extreme environments. It may have greatly extended the length of time and stabilized the habitability.”
From the UAB, they point out, the next step for the researchers is to characterize land near the crater as a landable site based on habitability and to house evidence of ancient biosignals.
Source: Biobiochile