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Liu Yang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stressed that “if it had water, we can speculate that the atmosphere was suitable for life or that the climatic conditions on Mars were favorable a billion years ago.
China’s Mars exploration mission Tianwen-1 has been on the red planet for around 500 days and its rover Zhurong has covered almost 2,000 meters of the Martian surface. According to those responsible for the project, the rover has been able to analyze concave cones, craters and grooves in the area where it landed, revealing what they say is a significant link between the formation of ridges and liquid water activity about a billion years ago.
“The color of the rocks is relatively bright. By analyzing the spectrum data, we found that it is a kind of salt filled with minerals that contain water. It connects the soil particles and, after compression, forms a very loose rock”, confirmed Liu Yang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who also indicated that “if it had water, we can speculate that the atmosphere was adequate to originate life or that climatic conditions on Mars were favorable a billion years ago. Those conditions could still exist underground in relatively temperate space.”
On May 15, 2021, the Zhurong rover touched down at its preselected landing area in Utopia Planitia, a vast Martian plain where the exploration was carried out, which has also yielded data on the relationship between the density of rocks on Mars and the erosion of the surface, in addition to the gravity field of the red planet.
The rover is currently in hibernation while Mars’ atmospheric conditions improve.
On September 20, the team responsible received the World Space Prize in Paris, the most important international aerospace award, given by the International Astronautical Federation for its role in inspiring and leading further exploration of Mars.
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