Martian gullies not formed by water flow
The uncertainty of science: Spectroscopy of many of the gullies on Mars strongly suggests that water had nothing to do with their formation, even though these gullies resemble closely similar gullies on Earth that were carved by flowing water..
Color coding in light blue corresponds to surface composition of unaltered mafic material, of volcanic origin. Mafic material from the crater rim is carved and transported downslope along the gully channels. No hydrated minerals are observed within the gullies, in the data from CRISM, indicating limited interaction or no interaction of the mafic material with liquid water. These findings and related observations at about 100 other gully sites on Mars suggest that a mechanism not requiring liquid water may be responsible for carving these gullies on Mars. (Gullies on Mars are a different type of feature than seasonal dark streaks called recurring slope lineae or RSL; water in the form of hydrated salt has been identified at RSL sites.) [emphasis mine]
In other words, these gullies were formed by flowing lava, not water. Considering Mars’s lower gravity, one third that of Earth’s, we should not be surprised if lava is capable of doing things there that it is not generally capable of doing on Earth. In fact, we should remind ourselves constantly that Mars is an alien planet, and that conditions there are different enough to make any predictions based on our knowledge of Earth very unreliable.
More details here.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The uncertainty of science: Spectroscopy of many of the gullies on Mars strongly suggests that water had nothing to do with their formation, even though these gullies resemble closely similar gullies on Earth that were carved by flowing water..
Color coding in light blue corresponds to surface composition of unaltered mafic material, of volcanic origin. Mafic material from the crater rim is carved and transported downslope along the gully channels. No hydrated minerals are observed within the gullies, in the data from CRISM, indicating limited interaction or no interaction of the mafic material with liquid water. These findings and related observations at about 100 other gully sites on Mars suggest that a mechanism not requiring liquid water may be responsible for carving these gullies on Mars. (Gullies on Mars are a different type of feature than seasonal dark streaks called recurring slope lineae or RSL; water in the form of hydrated salt has been identified at RSL sites.) [emphasis mine]
In other words, these gullies were formed by flowing lava, not water. Considering Mars’s lower gravity, one third that of Earth’s, we should not be surprised if lava is capable of doing things there that it is not generally capable of doing on Earth. In fact, we should remind ourselves constantly that Mars is an alien planet, and that conditions there are different enough to make any predictions based on our knowledge of Earth very unreliable.
More details here.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Off-topic: Mr. Zimmerman, do know something about a planned Russian mission to Jupiter’s moon Ganymede?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhA08xadaVo
Alex: As I cannot speak Russian I can’t really comment on the video at the link. However, Anatoly Zak gives these details at his website, RussianSpaceWeb.com,
Unfortunately, he posts no further information, so I do not know if the contract was ever awarded.
Mr. Zimmerman: Thanks. My command in Russian language is also very limited, but automatic translation of sub-title helps a little bit. They are talking much about this future mission to Ganymede, but I am wondering about hardware that is shown in report. I am not sure. Did they already built some hardware elements or is this ill-fated “Fobos-Grunt” probe, which shall deliver major components for Laplace probe as Mr. Zak wrote. Nevertheless, I cannot imagine that there is enough money in Russia to realize such an ambitious project.
Alex: I suspect you are right. If you look at all their proposed interplanetary unmanned missions listed on Zak’s website, you will see that all of them are in the same situation as this Ganymede mission, proposed a few years ago but as far as I can tell, never implemented. They have great ambitions, but no money to carry them out.
Mr. Zimmerman: It so sad, they have ambitions, good ideas, deep knowledge and experiences and also some interesting technologies, but no money for required high level quality management and systems engineering. Remember, a few days before Russia launched Fobos-Grunt some years ago, technicians rewired some electrical connections of the probe, which was already placed atop the launcher (if I remember correctly), because a design error becomes known at last moment. Fobos-Grunt was also significantly underfinanced.
I think, best what Russia can do at present in unmanned missions scenario is to cooperate with ESA – as already happens in case of Mars – by delivering launcher (Proton) and some probe elements as experiments or propulsion.