Foreshadowing Flashes in the Planum.

• Autores: J. R. Minkel
• Localización: Scientific American, ISSN 0036-8733, Vol. 290, Nº. 5, 2004, págs. 40-40
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article discusses the tiny blueberry-shaped rocks found on Mars by rovers. Water may explain mysterious Martian flashes.For decades, astronomers have spied bursts of light on sites such as Meridiani Planum, where the rover Opportunity landed, even when the skies above the Red Planet were clear. In 2002 NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter found signs of ice lurking just below the planet's surface, including at Meridiani. Terrestrial rocks with that much sulfur either formed in water or soaked in it a long time. Rice-shaped indentations in the rock strongly resemble voids left by salt crystals grown in briny Earth water, and BB-size particles could have formed from minerals deposited in wet, porous rock.