A Previously Unseen Chemical Reaction Has Been Detected On Mars

For the first time, the ExoMars orbiter detected traces of hydrogen chloride in Mars' atmosphere, presenting Mars scientists with a new mystery to solve: how it got there. ScienceAlert reports: Scientists have been keeping an eye out for gases that contain chlorine in the atmosphere of Mars, since they could confirm that the planet is volcanically active. However, if hydrogen chloride was produced by volcanic activity, it should only spike very regionally, and be accompanied by other volcanic gases. The hydrogen chloride detected by ExoMars did not, and was not. It was sniffed out in both the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars during the dust storm, and the absence of other volcanic gases was glaring.

This suggests that the gas was being produced by some other process; luckily, we have similar processes here on Earth that can help us understand what it could be. It's a several-step process that requires a few key ingredients. First, you need sodium chloride (that's regular salt), left over from evaporative processes. [...] Then there's the Martian polar ice caps which, when warmed during the summer, sublimate. When the resulting water vapor mingles with the salt, the resulting reaction releases chlorine, which then reacts further to form hydrogen chloride. The research has been published in the journal Science Advances.

TeamViewer?

[CaptQuark]

Maybe the ExoMars orbiter's chemical analysis unit can be controlled by TeamViewer? /s

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They're more secure than all that

[Åke Malmgren]

They're using NetBus, obviously.

Re: They're more secure than all that

[saloomy]

Hint: now-extinct martians used a cream with it as an ingredient before they completely lost their atmosphere to the solar wind. The light from the sun was slightly different then, and it was soothing to their biology. They manufactured it.

Re:

[BeerFartMoron]

Martians do not get sick. In fact, when that Martian started coming to our church, all of us stopped getting sick too. Valentine Michael Smith: Re-Open Now.

Blame the Rovers and Probes

[Dareth]

Why are the Martian polar ice caps warming during the summer? Must be all the probes and rover we sent there.

Comment

[WallyL]

Great, the few rovers we've sent over have already begun global^W^W^W^W^W^Wmartial warming over there!

exomars results

[Amrein]

The sample was actually found by ExoMars, right? And that's an interesting discovery indeed. No, I'm not going to say that we need to fix our planet first. It's alive, not dead as Mars is. That we should stop pollution and change minds towards becoming better 'managers' of the environment. Then we take what we've learned to tera form Mars again. customwritingcompany.com [customwritingcompany.com]