Super Military Scientist

Chapter 1795: Mount Olympus

He didn't speak for a long time every day, and heard Feifei said that he wanted to work on Mars. She also made a joke with everyone.

Zhao Zhongyao saw nothing good at the north pole of Mars, so he flew the spacecraft to the south stage of Mars again. The South Pole and the North Pole of Mars are similar, and both are thick ice sheets. Although this can be regarded as water resources on Mars. But until now, no signs of life have been found on Mars.

It seems that the planet on which life can exist has extremely strict requirements for the external environment. Even on Mars, there is already a very suitable temperature. But it is still unable to meet the conditions of life.

But under the Antarctic ice sheet, there is a great possibility that there is a huge freshwater lake. This freshwater lake may have been formed by an underground volcanic eruption.

The top international academic journal "Science" published a paper introducing radar evidence of the existence of sub-ice liquid water on Mars. Undoubtedly, this is an epic discovery for human exploration of Mars. Italian scientists used radar instruments on the Mars orbiter to discover a huge liquid reservoir about 1,500 meters below the Antarctic ice sheet, covering a length of 20 kilometers.

Researchers say it's a lot like subglacial lakes hidden under the earth's north and south poles. And, just like our subglacial lakes on land, this may be a potential place for us to discover life forms! Scientists have long believed that subglacial lakes are important locations for finding water sources on this red planet. But even on Earth, detecting glacier regions is not an easy task.

It is only in recent years that researchers have begun to use satellites equipped with radars to help uncover the mystery of hidden water bodies on our planet. From May 2012 to December 2015, a research team carefully investigated a 200-kilometer-wide ice sheet in the South Pole region of Mars. They mapped the data by reflecting radio waves deep underground on Mars and collecting the return signal on the receiver. 29 radar profiles of the area.

Specifically, this task is completed by transmitting signals and comparing and analyzing data on Martian underground features. Generally, radar signals passing through water are stronger or more prominent than those passing through rocks or sediments. The research team found in the radar results that there is an unusually bright area in the Martian South Pole ice cap. Of course, there may be other explanations for this phenomenon. For example, very cold and pure water ice, or carbon dioxide dry ice, can also create such a bright underground anomaly.

But after the scientists performed simulations, they found that the reflectivity characteristics under these conditions did not match the detection results, and were different from the characteristics of liquid water. However, another major issue is that the temperature in this area is estimated to be approximately 205 Kelvin (ie -68.15 degrees Celsius). This is far below freezing point. Even for the ultra-high salinity Antarctic lakes, due to their salt content, these lakes can only maintain a liquid state above 260 Kelvin (-13 degrees Celsius).

Nevertheless, these bodies of water can still be assumed to be liquids. We know that there are a lot of sodium, magnesium, and calcium salts on Mars, which have been found on the surface. If these substances are dissolved in water, combined with the pressure of the top ice cap, this can reduce the freezing point to below 200 Kelvin (-74 degrees Celsius). Scientists have discovered life in the sub-glacial lakes of the earth.

According to speculation, subglacial lakes on Mars may also contain life. This discovery can be said to emphasize this possibility more than ever. Brendan Burns, an astrobiologist from the University of New South Wales, said: "There is evidence that there are a large number of microorganisms in the polar waters of the earth, some of which can even survive in ice veins.

Whether a similar situation will occur on Mars remains to be verified, but the new discovery of potential liquid water beneath the surface of Mars has opened up a moving field of space exploration. "Although the academic community has become more excited, people still need to stay calm on this issue. You must know that the pure salt concentration required to maintain the existence of liquid water is likely to have a completely adverse effect on life.

No matter now or in the near future, there is absolutely no way for us to sample the water here. However, compared to Europa and Enceladus, other planets with potential life in the solar system, Mars is still the easiest for humans to intervene. The body of water itself can provide information about the climate history of Mars, allowing us to understand what happened to its hydrosphere and its long-lost ocean.

In addition, since this survey technology has been made public, it means that other researchers will also be able to find more such reservoirs on the Red Planet. However, humans may need to spend a little more time to confirm the possibility of Martian microbes.

For decades, scientists have been looking for evidence of ice or past water currents. Now, people finally know that liquid water currently exists on Mars, just like the underground lakes in Antarctica. With this alone, we have taken a step forward. The truth of life on Mars is being revealed little by little by humans.

Zhao Zhongyao took Feifei to investigate the South Pole of Mars. It feels that the South Pole and North Pole of Mars are similar, and there is nothing special. So they left the South Pole of Mars.

After completing the investigation of the poles of Mars, Zhao Zhongyao asked Feifei, ‘Feifei, we have finished investigating the poles of Mars, then where do you want to go to investigate on Mars. ’

After hearing what my father said, Feifei said, ‘After the survey of the poles of Mars is over, let’s go and see the highest mountain on Mars! ’

After hearing Feifei's words, Zhao Zhongyao smiled and said, ‘Okay, let’s go to the highest mountain of Mars-Mount Olympus! ’

After finishing speaking, Zhao Zhongyao flew to Olympus, the highest mountain of Mars, in the spacecraft with his wife and children.

Soon, they flew over Mount Olympus on Mars.

Mount Olympus is the highest mountain on Mars and is a giant volcano formed by a huge volcanic eruption. At the top of this Olympus, there is a huge crater.

Mount Olympus is 27 kilometers (88,600 feet) above the surface, making it the largest mountain range in the solar system. Its base is more than 600 kilometers in diameter, and the crater in the center is more than 80 kilometers in diameter, and is surrounded by a cliff as high as 6 kilometers (20,000 feet).

Olympus is a shield volcano on Mars, the highest volcano on the surface of Mars, and the largest known volcano in the solar system.

Mount Olympus is 21,171 meters above the Mars datum. However, the height difference from the foot of Mount Olympus to the summit is 21.9 kilometers, which is equivalent to more than twice the height difference from the foot of the Mauna Kea volcano on the earth. Mount Olympus is 26 kilometers higher than the plain 1,000 kilometers northwest of it.

Mount Olympus is about 600 kilometers wide and covers an area of ​​about 300,000 square kilometers (equivalent to an Italy). Olympus Mountain is located at 18.65 degrees north latitude and 226.2 degrees east longitude.

Before the spacecraft confirmed that it was a mountain, Mount Olympus in the ground-based telescope was a bright spot. It was named "Snow of Mount Olympus" by astronomers in the late 19th century. Mount Olympus was a solar system. The largest known volcano is about 600 kilometers wide, and the height difference from the foot of the mountain to the top is 21.9 kilometers. The crater is made up of six mutually covering subsidences. The total length is about 80 kilometers and the width is about 60 kilometers. The crater wall can be as high as 3.2 kilometers. The edge of the mountain is a cliff up to 8 kilometers high, which is rare for other volcanoes on Mars.

The **** of the entire volcano is very gentle (approximately 1 to 2.5 degrees near the top of the mountain, and about 5 degrees outside), and the huge width makes it impossible to see the full view from the surface of Mars. In fact, other huge volcanoes on Mars have similar phenomena. The air pressure at the top of the mountain is about 30 to 60 Pa, which is about 8% of the Martian base pressure of 600 Pa, compared to the pressure at the top of Mount Everest of 330 Pa, which is 33% of the sea level pressure. Although the height of the summit of Mount Olympus cannot form, there will still be dry ice clouds and dust carried by the wind.

Mount Olympus is a shield volcano, formed by long-term eruption and accumulation of basalt lava with high fluidity, resulting in a gentle slope, similar to the Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii. As there is no plate movement on Mars, the hot spots under the volcano can remain fixed, so that the volcano continues to accumulate lava and increase its height, and the earth will form a chain of volcanic islands due to plate movement, such as the Hawaii-Imperial Island chain. Mount Olympus was formed in the early Amazonian period, and no ongoing volcanic activity has been observed.

The caldera on the top of the mountain was formed by the collapse of the underground magma reservoir after the top, and the upper surface was stretched to form normal fault stripes. There are five depressions showing five times of formation and depletion of magma reservoirs, and the complete circular depression covering the top without being covered is the youngest. According to the photos of the Mars Express high-resolution stereo camera, the dating method using the number of impact craters shows that the five collapses in the Olympus caldera were formed about 150 million years ago, and the western wall of the volcano The lava flow is 115 million years old and only 2 million years old. This is very young in terms of geological time.

According to photos and topographic observations by Mars Express and Mars Global Surveyor, at least in the western part of the mountain, in addition to lava, there are sedimentary rocks and volcanic sedimentary rocks-such as dust, volcanic ash, and possibly water ice that has fallen from the atmosphere. And like the glacier at the foot of the western mountain, there may be glaciers on the upper part of the gentle **** of the volcano that are covered by sand and dust to avoid sublimation.

Zhao Zhongyao now flew to Olympus Mountain with his family in a flying saucer spacecraft. They let the spacecraft stop at the top of the mountain crater. Then, they looked at this impenetrable volcanic crater.

Feifei looked at this huge crater with a diameter of eighty kilometers and a depth of nearly six kilometers. There was a shock in my heart. He was thinking about what a terrifying and spectacular scene when this Olympus volcano erupted.

So Feifei looked at Zhao Zhongyao and said, ‘Dad, how did this huge Olympus volcano come into being? Was it a volcanic eruption? ’

After hearing Feifei’s words, Zhao Zhongyao said, ‘how the Olympus volcano was formed is now one of the Mars topics that scientists are studying. Ordinary scientists believe that Mount Olympus was formed by a huge volcanic eruption on Mars 150 million years ago.

There was no Olympus volcano in this place at that time. There is only one relatively small mountain. But this mountain is an active volcano.

This active volcano formed the current Olympus volcano after a strong eruption. The reason why Olympus volcano is so tall is because when that smaller volcano erupted, a lot of magma gushed from the ground. After the magma gushed from the ground, it slowly accumulated near the crater.

As a result, this originally large mountain, after this strong eruption, formed the spectacular Olympus Mountain.

Of course, this is just a hypothesis. There is no definite evidence to prove that Mount Olympus was formed by a strong volcanic eruption 150 million years ago.

But anyway, this is a hypothesis that is very possible. We know that there are many small islands in the sea. In fact, it was formed by the eruption of submarine volcanoes. Although we look from the sea, these islands are not very big. But in fact their part on the bottom of the sea is much larger than the part on the sea surface. Any small island that can be seen in the sea. In fact, it is a big mountain in the sea. It's just that we can't see the bottom of this big mountain.

In fact, not only the small islands above the sea are formed by the eruption of submarine volcanoes. Even on the earth, there are many large mountains that were formed by volcanic eruptions. Especially some active volcanoes. It was originally formed by a volcanic eruption.

Therefore, the Olympus on Mars may also be formed by a huge Martian explosion 150 million years ago.

Of course, this is not the only explanation for the existence of Olympus. Except this volcanic eruption said. There is also the theory of tectonic plate movement, that is, the theory of earthquakes. This doctrine is to use the reason why my country’s Mount Everest was formed to apply this Olympus mountain on Mars.

Because Mount Everest on the earth was formed by the collision of the Asia-Europe plate and the Indian plate. The Olympus mountain above Mars may also be formed by plate collisions.

This theory is also possible. After all, the strong collision of plates can indeed form some huge mountains.

But not all plates collide to form huge mountains, which still requires certain conditions. How the Olympus Mountain came into being has yet to be further studied.