‘We’re not the first to consider ferrihydrite as the reason for why Mars is red, but it has never been proven the way we proved it now using observational data and novel laboratory methods to essentially make a Martian dust in the lab.’.
Mars has been known as the Red Planet for thousands of years; even the ancient Egyptians called it ‘The Red One’ (Her Desher).
Scientists may finally have the answer Picture: cloudfront source: https://d197for5662m48.cloudfront.net/documents/publicationstatus/240588/preprint_pdf/7aff448df57b34948235a49c465b7247.pdf] A study published in Nature today says that the iron oxide could be a different mineral to the one most commonly presumed.
Adomas Valantinas of the Universit of Bern said that while the idea has been suggested before, this is the first time that such dust was recreated, and the idea ‘proven’ using observations.
Researchers said the water-rich iron mineral ferrihydrite could be the main culprit, as opposed to hematite, which is formed in drier conditions.
