The Science Behind the Red Color of Mars

Scientists have been trying to unravel the mysteries of Mars for a long time. Scientists believe that water exists on Mars. Mars is attractive to people because of its red color. However, the question is why is Mars red? Now scientists have made a shocking revelation about the color of Mars.

Scientists believe that Mars is red in color because of the rust colored dust present on its surface, which is called ferrihydrite. It is because of this dust that Mars looks red. This has been revealed on the basis of data received from the spacecraft and landers sent to Mars. They told that like the chemical process taking place on Earth, whenever the iron present in the rocks mixed with water or water and oxygen present in the atmosphere of Mars, it led to the formation of iron oxide.

After this, due to the winds blowing on Mars, iron oxide spread across the planet over billions of years and it turned into dust. This has made Mars red. Water is not in liquid form on Mars. Because of this, scientists earlier believed that its rust-red color was due to dry iron oxides such as hematite located in the dust. However, according to the analysis of satellite data and laboratories, ferrihydrite may be a better explanation for the red color of Mars.

Author Adomas Valentinas said that the question of why Mars is red has been considered for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. He said that Mars is still red. The only question is that our understanding of why Mars is red has changed.

Ferrihydrite has been identified as a major component of Martian dust, which could add to our knowledge about the Martian past and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Adomas Valentinas is lead author and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University.

Valentinus said that the presence of ferrihydrite on Mars shows that the red planet originally had a liquid water environment, which is necessary for life. Study co-author Jack Mustard said that the research will help solve the mystery. NASA's Perseverance rover is now collecting data. When it comes to Earth, scientists will be able to confirm whether the idea of ​​ferrihydrite is correct or not.

Read more : - The Rare Water Allergy