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In an exciting discovery, researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US have suggested that Mars may have been a habitable planet in ancient times.
According to a statement issued by the agency, this finding is based on analysis of the latest samples collected by the Curiosity rover.
The ChemCam instrument onboard Curiosity has detected elevated levels of manganese in lake-bottom rocks in the Murray Formation, located in Mars' ancient Gale Crater.
This discovery reveals intriguing facts about the chemical composition of Mars in the past and raises the possibility that the planet may have harboured life.
The study has revealed that the coarse-grained rocks show a remarkable enrichment of up to 45 times in manganese and up to 1.5 times in iron compared to the average chemical composition of the fine-grained rocks of the formation.
The authors of the study suggest that these deposits could have formed in a river, a delta or near the shore of an ancient lake.
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The discovery of high concentrations of manganese oxide in a coastal deposit on Mars has surprised scientists.
Patrick Gasda, the scientist who led the research recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, explained: ‘It is difficult for manganese oxide to form on the surface of Mars, so we didn't expect to find it in such high concentrations in a coastal deposit’.
These findings suggest that Mars may have had the right conditions to support life in the past.
The enrichment of manganese and iron in the rocks of ancient Gale Crater indicates the presence of chemical and geological processes that could have supported the existence of living organisms.
This discovery raises exciting questions about the history of Mars and its potential for life.
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If Mars was once a habitable planet, what happened to make it the inhospitable place we know today? What factors led to the disappearance of conditions conducive to life?
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory continue to analyse samples collected by the Curiosity rover, looking for more clues about the history of Mars and its potentially habitable past.
These new findings are a reminder of the importance of space exploration and the study of other planets to better understand our own origin and place in the vast universe.