First detection of boron on the surface of Mars New finding provides more clues about water habitability

ChemCam target Catabola is a raised resistant calcium sulfate vein with the highest abundance of boron observed so far. The red outline shows the location of the ChemCam target remote micro images (inset). The remote micro images show the location of each individual ChemCam laser point (red crosshairs) and the B chemistry associated with each point (colored bars). The scale bar is 9.2 mm or about 0.36 inches. Credit: JPL-Caltech/MSSS/LANL/CNES-IRAP/William Rapin

Boron has been identified for the first time on the surface of Mars, indicating the potential for long-term habitable groundwater in the ancient past. This finding and others from NASA's Curiosity rover science team will be discussed in a press conference today in San Francisco during the American Geophysical Union conference.

"No prior mission to Mars has found boron," said Patrick Gasda, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "If the boron that we found in calcium sulfate mineral veins on Mars is similar to what we see on Earth, it would indicate that the groundwater of ancient Mars that formed these veins would have been 0-60 degrees Celsius [32-140 degrees Fahrenheit] and neutral-to-alkaline pH." The temperature, pH, and dissolved mineral content of the groundwater could make it habitable. 

Mars with oceans - Imgur

The boron was identified by the rover's laser-shooting Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument, which was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in conjunction with the French space agency. Los Alamos' work on discovery-driven instruments like ChemCam stems from the Laboratory's experience building and operating more than 500 spacecraft instruments for national defense. Boron is famously associated with arid sites where much water has evaporated away -- think of the borax that mule teams once hauled from Death Valley. However, environmental implications of the boron found by Curiosity are still open to debate. Scientists are considering at least two possibilities for the source of boron that groundwater left in the veins: 

The Curiosity rover on Mars with a simulated Chem- Cam laser pulse ResearchGate 

It could be that the drying out of part of Gale lake resulted in a boron-containing deposit in an overlying layer, not yet reached by Curiosity. Some of the material from this layer could have later been carried by groundwater down into fractures in the rocks. Or perhaps changes in the chemistry of clay-bearing deposits and groundwater affected how boron was picked up and dropped off within the local sediments.The discovery of boron is only one of several recent findings related to the composition of Martian rocks. Curiosity is climbing a layered Martian mountain and finding rock-composition evidence of how ancient lakes and wet underground environments changed, billions of years ago, in ways that affected their favorability for microbial life.

As the rover has progressed uphill, compositions trend toward more clay and more boron. These and other variations can tell us about conditions under which sediments were initially deposited and about how later groundwater moving through the accumulated layers altered and transported ingredients.Groundwater and chemicals dissolved in it that appeared later on Mars left its effects most clearly in mineral veins that filled cracks in older layered rock. But it also affected the composition of that rock matrix surrounding the veins, and the fluid was in turn affected by the rock.

Map of shallow subsurface water distribution on Mars 

"There is so much variability in the composition at different elevations, we've hit a jackpot," said John Grotzinger, of Caltech, Pasadena, Calif. As the rover gets further uphill, researchers are impressed by the complexity of the lake environments when clay-bearing sediments were being deposited and also by the complexity of the groundwater interactions after the sediments were buried.

"A sedimentary basin such as this is a chemical reactor," Grotzinger said. "Elements get rearranged. New minerals form and old ones dissolve. Electrons get redistributed. On Earth, these reactions support life." Whether Martian life has ever existed is still unknown. No compelling evidence for it has been found. When Curiosity landed in Mars' Gale Crater in 2012 the mission's main goal was to determine whether the area ever offered an environment favorable for microbes.Four recent drilling sites, from "Oudam" this past June through "Sebina" in October, are spaced about 80 feet (about 25 meters) apart in elevation. This uphill pattern allows the science team to sample progressively younger layers that reveal


Mount Sharp's ancient environmental history. "Variations in these minerals and elements indicate a dynamic system," Grotzinger said. "They interact with groundwater as well as surface water. The water influences the chemistry of the clays, but the composition of the water also changes. We are seeing chemical complexity indicating a long, interactive history with the water. The more complicated the chemistry is, the better it is for habitability. The boron and clay underline the mobility of elements and electrons, and that is good for life.


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Another '' Habitable Planet Proxima B'' this exoplanet has important water reserves

Significant water reserves were discovered exoplanet Proxima b, Swiss scientists say. Proxima b could be the closest planet outside the Solar System, a telluric exoplanet, which is in the habitable zone of the star Proxima Centauri.

Proxima b has the same specific features Earth, it can be considered akin to Earth and has significant reserves of water, having dimensions substantially similar to Earth.

Habitable Proxima-b Planet Found Next Door to Milky Way  photo: youtube

All this comes in support of the theory of a life on distant Proxima b exoplanet, say researchers at the University of Berne Swiss. They conducted measurements and necessary research and assume exoplanet Proxima b is slightly larger than Earth, then it reached conclusions that about 90% of the mass of the exoplanet is hard rock specific mountain area and 10% is water, specific oceans. Proxima b is a duplicate of Earth.

According to researchers who study planetary science, small planets are among the best candidates for the role of "second Earth", where life can exist. As a result, studies on such objects will be continued and expanded, according to researchers, reports RIA Novosti news agency.

Recently scientists announced that the star next to the star Proxima Centauri was also invented the closest exoplanet to Earth, which closely resembles the Sun, which was noted potentiometers training cycle dark points.

Remember that Proxima b exoplanet was discovered by researchers this year using spectral analysis method. Spectral analysis is a method of physical research composition of substances by examining its spectrum of radiation.

According to the study published, these variations indicate the presence of a planet, performing a complete orbit around the star in 11.2 days Proxima Centauri. Proxima b exoplanet it is almost 7.5 million kilometers or 0.05 AU of the star (about 5% of the distance from Earth to the Sun).



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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Descopera . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Water existed on Mars billions of years before scientists about the phenomenon Consider Possible

The new evidence provided by NASA spacecraft, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have revealed that the entire network of lakes and streams fed by melted snow on Mars existed much earlier than it imagined researchers.

Based on the new images taken on ancient region, north of Mars, researchers said there was a considerable amount of water ,, '' with about a billion years before the '' wet Age '' of the red planet to end. This indicates that the planet was suitable for microbial life for much longer than estimated by the researchers.

,, I discovered valleys carrying water to lake basins, '' said a team member, Sharon Wilson, of the Smithsonian Intitutului. ,, Some of the lakes filled pools indicates that there was a considerable amount of water in those times, '' she added.

Wilson and his team analyzed images recorded in the northern area of ​​Mars called Arabia Terra (an extremely eroded known as one of the oldest areas of the planet)

Researchers were able to identify signs of water evaporated long ago. ,, One of the lakes in the region can be compared with the amount as Lake Tahoe, '' Wilson said. The researcher explained that this lake was fed by a Martian valley south out of bed in the north and pouring a large pool called Heart Lake.

Heart Lake is part of the whole system of lakes and valleys that stretch 150 kilometers along the northern planet. The team estimated that the lake could support a quantity of 2,790 cubic kilometers of water. Based on information gathered from 22 craters in the area, the team concluded that these lakes there were two or three billion years. Meanwhile melted snow each season could supply all water areas.


Researchers said they found such formations in other parts of Mars, but the north and south of the equator humid regions were much more extensive.

Source: Science Alert

After this year floods in all Europe. Louisiana may be the second evidence of weather modification technology?

Cloud seeding is a common technique to enhance precipitation. Cloud seeding entails spraying small particles, such as silver iodide onto clouds in order to affect their development, usually with the goal of increasing precipitation. Cloud seeding only works to the extent that there is already water vapor present in the air. 

Critics generally contend that claimed successes occur in conditions which were going to lead to rain anyway. It is used in a variety of drought-prone countries, including the United States, the People's Republic of China, India, and the Russian Federation. In the People's Republic of China there is a perceived dependency upon it in dry regions, and there is a strong suspicion it is used to "wash the air" in dry and heavily polluted places, such as Beijing. In mountainous areas of the United States such as the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, cloud seeding has been employed since the 1950s

First floods in 2016 have hit parts of Europe, leaving at least 15 people dead and more still missing.Germany, France and Austria have been worst affected, with torrents of water flooding homes and businesses, damaging transport infrastructure and leaving thousands without power.

China currently uses the technology of weather modification
China has allocated 199 million yuan (29.76 million dollars) to create technology that wants to control the weather, new technology is part of of drought and natural disaster reduction.

France has been particularly badly affected, with river levels in Paris rising to levels not seen since the massive flood that hit the city back in 1910.

Meteo France, the country’s national weather service, has issued its highest level red warning for flooding in the north of the country.

Heavy, thundery downpours of rain at not unusual across Europe during late spring and summer, so what has made this rainfall and subsequent flooding so intense?

More than 10,000 people are in shelters and more than 20,000 people have been rescued across south Louisiana amid widespread flooding, Governor John Bel Edwards has said.

Baton Rouge river center, a major events location, would be opened on Sunday to help care for the large numbers of evacuees, he said, as the federal government declared a major disaster in four parishes.

Edwards said Barack Obama called him and said “the people of south Louisiana are in his thoughts and prayers and the federal government will be a solid partner”.

Edwards emphasized Sunday that the rain-caused flooding was “not over”.

He said the fatalities have not risen from the three dead reported on Saturday. One person is unaccounted for in St Helena Parish. Edwards added that the storm has “subsided in its intensity” but encouraged people to not go out and “sightsee” even as the weather improves.

The governor says water is continuing to rise in some areas even though the sunshine is out.

Emergency crews plucked motorists from cars stranded by high water along a seven-mile stretch of highway in southern Louisiana and pulled others from inundated homes and waist-deep waters.

Pounding rains swamped parts of south-east Louisiana, leaving whole subdivisions and shopping centers looking isolated by flood waters, which have claimed at least three lives.

Edwards declared a state of emergency over the weekend, calling the floods unprecedented and “historic”. He and his family were forced to leave the governor’s mansion when chest-high water filled the basement and electricity was turned off.

“That’s never happened before,” said the governor, whose family relocated to a state police facility in the Baton Rouge area.

The governor toured flood-ravaged areas by helicopter on Saturday after rivers and creeks burst their banks. One of the worries, he said, is that as the rain lessens in the next several hours, people will become complacent and feel too at ease in areas where waters may still be rising for several days, getting in cars in areas that could still be dangerous.

“I’m still asking people to be patient. Don’t get out and sightsee,” Edwards said. “Even when the weather is better, it’s not safe.”

In one rescue on Saturday, two men on a boat pulled a woman from a car that was almost completely underwater. The woman, who was not initially visible in a video of the rescue, yelled from inside the car: “Oh my God, I’m drowning.”

One of the rescuers, David Phung, jumped into the brown water and pulled the woman to safety. She pleaded with Phung to get her dog, but he could not find it. After several seconds, Phung took a deep breath, went underwater and resurfaced – with the small dog. Both the woman and the dog appeared OK.

Elsewhere, rescues continued late on Saturday, including missions by crews in high-water vehicles who pulled motorists from one swamped stretch of Interstate 12 between Baton Rouge and nearby Tangipahoa Parish. Major Doug Cain, spokesman of the Louisiana state police, said about 125 vehicles became stranded on the seven-mile stretch.

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