A new research showed a great possibility of a water-rich history and exposed a potential breeding ground for life on Mars. A study of mineral originally containing hydrogen was found in the Red Planet's meteorite.
The found mineral nullified the previous belief about the Red Planet having an ancient dry-environment.
"This is important for deducing how much water could have been on Mars, and whether the water was from Mars itself rather than comets or meteorites," stated by Martin Kunz, Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source scientist.
Martian Meteorites Simulation
The scientists, from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Nevada, facilitated tests.
The experiment involved shock-compression of an artificial form of whitlockite, which is a mineral that contains hydrogen.
The artificial whitlockite material was used to simulate meteorites thrown from Mars.
After the test, the material was observed through X-ray beams to discover their microscopic composition. From shocks, whitlockite was drained of its moisture and formed a merrillite.
Merrillite is a mineral that is usually seen in Martian meteorites, but it does not naturally happen on Earth.
Oliver Tschauner, a research professor in the Department of Geoscience, explained that even if only a portion of merrillite was a whitlockite before, it alters Mars' water budget significantly.
Whitlockite can melt in water and has phosphorus, which is needed for life to exist. This study, hence, denoted a possible life on Mars.
Whitlockite and metal plates were fired at 1,678 miles per hour from a gas-pressurized gun.
"You need a very severe impact to accelerate material fast enough to escape the gravitational pull of Mars," expounded by Tschauner.
The test on extreme condition only lasted for about 100 billionths of a second, that is, only about one percent of the actual possible impact of a meteorite.
The experiment resulted in the whitlockite's transformation to merrillite by 36 percent, and discovering that shock-generated heating is the most crucial factor in whitlockite's conversion into merrillite.
Life On Mars
"The overarching question here is about water on Mars and its early history on Mars: Had there ever been an environment that enabled a generation of life on Mars?" a query raised by Tschauner.
In connection to Tschauner's posed question, NASA is planning for a futuristic space project to operate by 2050. A magnetic field would be installed surrounding Mars, and this would counter the danger of high radiation and absence of water on the planet. Mars would return to its previous atmosphere, making the Red Planet more habitable for humans.
