In one of the most ambitious and critical projects, researchers have come up with a fascinating new discovery on Mars. According to a recent study from the journal “Nature”, it has been found that there was the presence of a large amount of water on Mars a long time ago, and that too in the form of “catastrophic floods”. This discovery intrigued the scientists, as it is certainly a long shot that makes the whole endeavor sound a lot more interesting because researchers have been exploring the presence of water on Mars since long. Hence, this recent evidence could provide a gateway to new opportunities for future research.
It should be noted that the researchers have achieved this milestone through their state-of-the-art rover from China named “Zhurong Mars Rover” and got the first-ever and never-before-seen radar images captured from the depths of the red planet’s surface. The detailed images revealed some specific and minute details about the planet’s symmetry and, as per the updates, the “catastrophic floods” that once occurred on Mars were the reason behind shaping its vast Utopia Planitia plains. However, this is definitely an incredible scientific feat on the part of Zhurong because of its exceptional capabilities.
What’s more, the radio waves can efficiently penetrate through the surface of Mars and screen out the whole interior, up to a depth of around 100 meters. If we talk about the working mechanism of Zhurong, it has been embedded with a “bounce signals” configuration that makes the signals reflect back to the ground with a better resolution of the in-depth images along with information regarding the presence of any solid or liquid objects that were once there.
The most interesting thing to note is that water has been detected in the two horizontal layers, and this has been confirmed when the Zhurong came with the reflection of large boulders embedded under two small rocks. The researchers then analyzed the images and said that two flooding incidents caused the formation of these boulders, which first emerged in the form of sediments. Over time, these sediments have transformed into large boulders, and this confirms the presence of flooding on Mars. It should be noted that the first and thin layer was located at a depth of about 10–30 meters from the ground and the second and thicker layer has been positioned at a depth of about 30–80 meters.
However, the co-author of the research study, Chen Ling, claimed that although they detected the presence of these floods through radar images, they still haven’t been able to explore them physically. Because of this, there are some doubts among researchers about the formation of sediments. The researchers demonstrated that there is also the probability that the rocks could also be volcanic rather than in a sedimental form. If this is the case, the recent research will take a sharp turn and will take things to a whole different level. Let’s see how all of it goes!