- A team led by Dr Lorna Dougan from the University of Leeds has analysed the structure of water in a magnesium perchlorate solution — what they refer to as “mimetic Martin water” — to better understand how the liquid could exist on the Martian surface.
- Researchers investigating whether liquid water could exist on Mars have provided new insight into the limits of life on the red planet.
- Martian soil samples gathered by the Phoenix Lander in 2009 found calcium and powerful oxidants, including magnesium perchlorate.
- This fuelled speculation that perchlorate brine flows might be the cause of channelling and weathering observed on the planet’s surface.
- The outcome of their analysis, published 13th October 2017 in Nature Communications, shows that the magnesium perchlorate solutions have a dramatic impact on water structure.
- The effect of the perchlorate is equivalent to pressurizing pure water to 2 billion pascals or more.
- The team observed that the ions in the water become partially segregated and it is likely this segregation is what stops the liquid from freezing.
- Dr Dougan said, “We found these observations quite intriguing. It gives a different perspective of how salts dissolve in water. The magnesium perchlorate is clearly a major contributing factor on the freezing point of this solution and paves the way for understanding how a fluid might exist under the sub-freezing conditions of Mars”.
Reference:
http://ddnews.gov.in/sci-tech/new-study-analyses-water-structure-and-possibility-life-mars
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171013091028.htm