Connect with us

NASA Spacecraft Skimmed the Edge of a Martian Sea in ’97

 

Who knew Pathfinder was a surfing enthusiast?

According to a paper published in the Scientific Reports journal, NASA’s first rover mission in 1997 involved its Mars Pathfinder spacecraft hanging out at the edge of an ancient Martian sea that dried out millions of years ago.

It wasn’t always that way, however. The area around the ancient sea reportedly used to experience massive floods about 3.4 billion years ago. The floods were apparently even larger than the ones that we experience on Earth. This is called the “Martian Megaflood Hypothesis” and it is backed up by the existence of a basin in the area.

Alexis Rodriguez, a senior scientist from the Planetary Science Institute who authored the paper, says, “the sea is roughly 155 miles upstream from the Pathfinder landing site. It was part of a marine spillway that formed a barrier between the Inland Sea and the Northern Ocean.”

Co-author Brian Stone says that the sea quickly became iced over and disappeared after a thousand years due to rapid evaporation, most likely caused by overexposure to the sun due to the lack of a protective magnetic field similar to Earth’s.

Connect