The Perseverance rover has been hard at work on the Martian surface for more than three years, collecting rock samples that, if all goes as planned, will eventually be brought back to Earth. But the rover has also picked up a hitchhiker in the form of traces of Martian atmosphere tucked into the “headspace” of its sample tubes.
This is very exciting for atmospheric scientists who have been studying the Martian atmosphere remotely until now, either from spacecraft that study the planet’s features from above, or from rovers that deliver readouts to experts on Earth. If this all works out, there will be a nice bonus for scientists to be able to analyze Martian rocks in their laboratories here on Earth.
But forget about rock samples, the material that planetary scientists hope will explain the evolution of Mars and that astrobiologists hope contains hints of ancient life on the fourth planet from the Sun.
“People think there’s no air on the moon, but it does have a very thin atmosphere that interacts with the rocks on the moon over time,” said geochemist Just Simon at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. NASA release“This includes noble gases that escape from the Moon’s interior and collect on the lunar surface.”
The team will apply findings from a 2021 study of the Moon’s very thin atmosphere, based on samples brought back by the Apollo 17 mission. By placing the gas in a cold trap and lowering the temperature in the sealed container, the team was able to capture some of the gas in the sample at the bottom of the trap. The same rules will apply to studies looking at the Martian atmosphere, held in the headspace of rock core sample tubes.
The Martian atmosphere will give researchers a chance to understand how Martian dust travels through the Martian atmosphere, sometimes causing Martian dust storms. Perseverance was run over. Atmospheric samples of Mars are scheduled to be taken in 2022 and may reveal how much water vapor exists just above the Martian surface, which in turn may shed light on aspects of the planet’s water cycle, a system that persists through regular cycles of frost and thaw on Mars, but liquid water is not known to exist on the Martian surface.
In recent years, the Martian atmosphere has become a prime location for exploration. For almost three yearsThe brave Ingenuity helicopter flies through the Martian skies, First aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight On another planet.
But there’s one big problem preventing NASA scientists from studying samples of the Martian surface and sky: cost. Mars Sample Return Mission Originally budgeted at $7 billion, it is now estimated to cost around $11 billion, causing delays to the mission’s schedule. NASA to industry stakeholders To generate ideas that could make the mission feasible, Perseverance has so far collected more than 20 rock samples selected for their potential to shed light on the planet’s geochemistry, geological history and other aspects of its composition and evolution.
At the moment, using instruments to photograph, retrieve and decipher the structure of the sky of other planets seems like a simple thing to do – the hard part is actually funding such an endeavor.
more: This albatross-like aircraft may one day fly over Mars
