NASA's Mars Rover has revealed evidence of an asteroid impact 4 billion years ago
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- NASA's Mars Rover has revealed evidence of an asteroid impact 4 billion years ago
The Perseverance rover of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered geological evidence of a series of powerful asteroid impacts that occurred about 4 billion years ago on the edge of the Jezero crater on Mars. This was reported on July 19 by Universe Today magazine.
The mission's specialists studied a 75 m thick multi-layered bedrock called Broom Point. According to scientists, this formation was formed more than 3.9 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest surface areas ever explored by a spacecraft. The discovery makes it possible to study in detail the era of the late heavy bombardment, a chaotic period in the history of the Solar System when planets were subjected to massive impacts from comets and asteroids.
Ken Farley, Deputy Scientific Director of the Perseverance project at the California Institute of Technology
On Earth, our earliest geological history was fundamentally disrupted, deformed, and erased by plate tectonics. Since there is no plate tectonics on Mars to recycle the crust, this ancient record remains intact, giving us a rare glimpse into a geological period that does not exist on our own planet.
The data collected in the Broome Point area revealed six different types of rocks. The researchers found layers of breccia (angular fragments) and fine-grained dust. Cavities formed by gas bubbles were found inside the fragments, indicating their past molten state.
In addition, scientists have recorded the presence of dark glass beads, which are formed during volcanic activity or high-energy impacts. The largest of them are comparable to the particles created by the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid, which caused the extinction of dinosaurs on Earth.
Alex Jones, lead author of the study
Different rock layers are a record of impacts of different scales that occurred at different distances from the accumulation site of this sequence. Some large impacts occurred very far away, some small ones nearby. All of their debris eventually landed here, forming this thick section of rock.
According to the publication, the layered structure of the formation also indicates a possible interaction with water or ice. Scientists believe that rapid flows of debris could occur in the region, when the red-hot rock instantly turned ice into steam.
The magazine Phys.org On July 14, he announced the development of a method for searching for traces of life on Mars by minerals. According to the publication, the sample determination process includes analyses of a large number of spectrum parameters — the position of the bands, their width and intensity. The researchers named the intensity of the carbonate band and the width of the dominant phosphate band as the most accurate indicators of origin.
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