REAL LIFE NEWS: WHERE DOES THE RED DUST ON MARS COME FROM?
by Hazed
The surface of Mars is all dusty. The dust is red because it’s full of iron – hence the rusty colour. But where does all that red dust come from?
It turns out it mostly comes from just one place, a formation called the Medusae Fossae. This stretches for about a thousand kilometres across the equator, and it is slowly crumbling and scattering its debris all over the planet.
The rovers Spirit and Opportunity gathered data from Medusae Fossae, and scientists examining the data have found that the structure is abundant with sulfur and chlorine. Its material is the best chemical match for the dust found everywhere on the Martian surface. Read the article at the source link below for the geological details.
Martian dust is going to be a major problem for any future human missions to the planet. It is already a hazard to the various rovers that we have sent to roam the surface, covering their solar panels so they can’t get energy and contaminating their sensitive instruments, so the more we learn about the dust, the better.
Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/25/mars_dust_medusae_fossae/
