The Curiosity might be looking for traces of life on the site ... - The Vanguard

Madrid. (EP). – A great mountain Mars of about 5,500 meters, and scientists suspect that preserves evidence of a huge lake, actually could have formed as a result of the dusty atmosphere of Mars .

So suggests a new analysis of the characteristics of the mound, which is none other than Mount Sharp, which operates the rover Curiosity . If this is correct, the research could dilute expectations that this mountain preserve evidence of past existence of water mass, which would have important implications for understanding past habitability of Mars.

Researchers at Princeton University and the California Institute of Technology indicate that the mound, known as Mount Sharp, most probably arose as a result of strong winds concentrated there dust and sand from the 96 kilometer wide crater in which is located the mound.

Experts report in the journal Geology , that the air which probably arises from the huge Gale crater, when heated the Martian surface during the day, then sweeps down its steep walls in night.

Despite strong

Gale Crater walls, these “slope winds” would come to end in the center of the crater, where the fine dust in the air would have accumulated to eventually form the Mount Sharp.

arose not from lake sediments

dynamics contradicts the prevailing theory that Mount Sharp was formed by layers of sediment from the bed of a lake, and could mean that the mound contains less evidence of a past Martian climate similar to Earth, as most scientists currently expect.

Evidence that

Gale Crater once contained a lake determined the landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover. The explorer landed near Mount acute in August in order to discover evidence of a habitable environment, and Curiosity in December found traces of clay, water molecules and organic compounds.

Determining the origin of these elements and how they relate to the Mount Sharp focuses Curiosity investigations. But Mount Sharp probably never was under water, but a body of water may have existed on the moat around its base, said study co-author Kevin Lewis, a research fellow at Princeton and Curiosity program participant.

The task of determining whether Mars could ever hold a living to support life could be directed to other parties, he said. “Our work does not exclude the existence of lakes in the Gale crater, but suggests that most of the material on Mount Sharp was deposited largely by wind,” said Lewis.