{"id":184766,"date":"2024-03-09T03:30:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T09:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/deciphering-mars-magnetic-history-mit-study-reveals-bedrock-orientation"},"modified":"2024-03-09T03:30:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T09:30:33","slug":"deciphering-mars-magnetic-history-mit-study-reveals-bedrock-orientation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/deciphering-mars-magnetic-history-mit-study-reveals-bedrock-orientation","title":{"rendered":"Deciphering Mars\u2019 Magnetic History: MIT Study Reveals Bedrock Orientation"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Can the ancient past of Mars be unlocked from knowing the orientation of rocks? This is what a study published today<\/a> in Earth and Space Science<\/em> hopes to address as an international team of researchers led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) investigated bedrock samples<\/a> that were drilled by NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater on Mars to ascertain the original orientation of the rocks prior to the drilling, with the orientation potentially providing clues about Mars\u2019 magnetic field history and the conditions that existed on ancient Mars.<\/p>\n

What makes this study unique is it marks the first time such a method is being conducted on another planet. Additionally, while orienting 3D objects is common on Earth, Perseverance is not equipped to perform such tasks. Therefore, this method had to be conducted using angles of the rover\u2019s arm and using identifiers from the ground, as well. The team notes how this method could be applied to future in-situ studies, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe orientation of rocks can tell you something about any magnetic field that may have existed on the planet,\u201d said Dr. Benjamin Weiss<\/a>, who is a professor of planetary sciences at MIT and lead author of the study. \u201cYou can also study how water and lava flowed on the planet, the direction of the ancient wind, and tectonic processes, like what was uplifted and what sunk. So, it\u2019s a dream to be able to orient bedrock on another planet, because it\u2019s going to open up so many scientific investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can the ancient past of Mars be unlocked from knowing the orientation of rocks? This is what a study published today in Earth and Space Science hopes to address as an international team of researchers led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) investigated bedrock samples that were drilled by NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover in Jezero [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":706,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-futurism","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}