The discovery was possible thanks to the Chinese rover Zhurong which identified these structures 35 meters deep on Mars
China’s Zhurong rover was equipped with a ground-penetrating radar system, allowing it to peer beneath the surface of Mars. Researchers have announced new findings from scans of the Zhurong landing site at Utopia Planitia on Mars, saying they have identified irregular polygonal wedges located at a depth of about 35 meters throughout the rover’s path. The objects measure from centimeters to tens of meters in diameter. Scientists believe the buried polygons are the result of freeze-thaw cycles on Mars billions of years ago, but they could also be volcanic, resulting from cooling lava flows.
The exploration of Mars by the Zhurong rover
Il Zhurong landed on Mars on May 15, 2021, making China the second country to ever successfully land a rover on Mars. The rovers, named after a Chinese god of fire, explored its landing site, sent back photos, including a selfie with its lander, taken by a remote camera, studied the topography of Mars and conducted measurements with its ground penetrating radar (GPR). ) instrument. Zhurong had a primary mission duration of three Earth months, but operated successfully for just over an Earth year before entering a scheduled hibernation. However, there has been no further news of the rover since May 2022. Researchers from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who worked with Zhurong’s data said that GPR provides an important complement to the orbital radar explorations of missions such as ESA’s Mars Express and China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter.
Utopia Plainia
Utopia Planitia is a large plain within Utopia, the largest recognized impact basin on Mars (even in the solar system) with an estimated diameter of 3,300 km. In total, the rover traveled 1,921 meters during its exploration. The researchers wrote in their article published on Nature Astronomywhich the rover’s radar detected sixteen polygonal wedges within about 1.2 kilometers away, suggesting a broad distribution of similar terrain beneath Utopia Planitia. These detected features likely formed 3.7-2.9 billion years ago on Mars,”probably with the disappearance of an ancient humid environment. The paleo-polygonal terrain, with or without erosion, was subsequently buried” by subsequent geological processes. Although polygonal terrain has been seen in several areas of Mars on many previous missions, this is the first time there have been indications of buried polygonal features.
Characteristics of the soil of Mars
Buried polygonal terrain requires a cold environment which may be related to water/ice freeze-thawing processes in southern Utopia Planitia. Previous research based on radar data from Zhurong indicated that multiple floods during the same time period had created several layers beneath the surface of the region. In any case, a huge change in Mars’ climate was responsible for the formation of these structures.
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