NASA’s Curiosity Detects Water Molecules in Martian Soil Particles

NASA's Curiosity has detected surprising quantity of water in the Martian soil particles. This finding comes days after NASA made the announcement stating that the Martian environment lacks methane.

 As Curiosity continues its trek on the Martian surface collecting samples it has surprised the researchers with several hidden clues that it found embedded in this alien planet. Curiosity landed in the Gale Crater near the Equator last August and has till date provided interesting images that are helping the scientists known more about the Martian environment.

On analyzing the observations and measurements made by the rover's analytical suite during the first four months after it landed on the Martian soil, the researchers identified water molecules bound to fine soil particles, making up almost 2 percent of the particles' weight taken from Gale Crater.

This new finding might have global implications as the material is scattered throughout the Martian surface.

This is the first mineralogical analysis Curiosity has completed of an alien planet using standard laboratory techniques of detecting materials on Earth. The finding offers clues to the volcanic history of Mars.

The mineralogical analysis of the igneous rock 'Jake M' helped in gaining information about the evolution of the Red planet's crust as well its deeper regions.

"No other Martian rock is so similar to terrestrial igneous rocks," said Edward Stolper of the California Institute of Technology, lead author of the report. "This is surprising because previously studied igneous rocks from Mars differ substantially from terrestrial rocks and from Jake M."

In the first three months of the mission, rover also tested 130 soil targets of Rocknest( dust and sand formations). And every time the laser struck a fine particle it detected hydrogen. The composition of the Rocknest samples was further determined using Curiosity's X-rays.

"The fine-grain component of the soil has a similar composition to the dust distributed all around Mars, and now we know more about its hydration and composition than ever before," said Pierre-Yves Meslin of the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie in Toulouse, France, lead author of a report about the laser instrument results.

The X-ray also found that a major part of the Rocknest composition was made up of an amorphous substance similar to glass.

Another instrument detected the chemicals and isotopes in gases that were released when Rocknest samples were heated in a small oven to 835 degrees Celsius. They found that water made up to 2 percent of the soil and it stuck to the amorphous material.

"The ratio of hydrogen isotopes in water released from baked samples of Rocknest soil indicates the water molecules attached to soil particles come from interaction with the modern atmosphere," said Laurie Leshin of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., lead author of a report about analysis with the baking instrument.

They discovered a compound with chlorine and oxygen in the baked Rocknest samples. These compounds are known to have existed in Mars earlier at high latitude regions.

The results were published in the journal Science.