The new results show the influence of wind and water activity on the geological evolution and environmental changes on Mars, Xinhua news agency reportsBEIJING, September 18.
/tass/. A Chinese rover has revealed traces of water exposure on the Martian surface, indicating that there was once an ocean there. This was reported on Sunday by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) in a report on the work of the orbiter and the rover of the Chinese probe "Tianwen-1".
"Chinese researchers conducted a comprehensive study of typical landforms in the landing area, including concave cones, impact craters and grooves, and revealed a significant relationship between the formation of ridges and water activity," the report says, which is outlined by the Xinhua news agency. Using camera images and spectral data, the researchers found aquifers in the plate rocks of the hard crust near the landing site, which proved that "already a billion years ago there was a lot of water in a liquid state in the landing area."
These new results, it is further noted, show the influence of wind and water activity on the geological evolution and environmental changes on Mars. "This convincingly confirms the hypothesis that there was once an ocean on the Martian plain Utopia," the document states.
The Tianwen-1 spacecraft has been operating for more than 780 days, and the Zhurong rover has overcome 1,921 meters on the surface of Mars, CNSA reports. The Tianwen-1 probe consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover. On May 15, 2021, it landed at a pre-selected landing site on the vast Martian plain of Utopia.
