WHAT MINERALS ARE THERE ON MARS?
There are silicates, which basically contain silicon and oxygen atoms, along with magnesium, iron, or calcium. Depending on the silicate, they can either be arranged in sheets, layered flat, like a flaky pastry; or globular, like people, would expect a rock to look. Other minerals we have are iron oxides – the reason why Mars is red. Haematite is one of the most common iron oxides that you’ll see on Mars and on Earth too. We call it haematite because it’s red like a blood [the word ‘haematite’ is derived from the Greek for ‘blood’].
Then there are things like sulphates, oxalates and carbonates, and I’m sure there are others that I haven’t named. Carbonate is the one that many scientists want to find, for the same reason that I want to find oxalates: because of the association with life.
WHAT ARE OXALATES?
You actually might be more familiar with them than you think. If you’ve heard of kidney stones, that’s calcium oxalate.
この記事は BBC Focus - Science & Technology の Summer 2020 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は BBC Focus - Science & Technology の Summer 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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