A potential sustainable energy source for Mars is being developed. Researchers used the nanomaterials from the Red Planet, which were waste products from NASA.
Martian Nanomaterials
The transformational potential of Martian nanomaterials has been discovered by researchers at the University of Sussex, which may pave the way for sustainable habitation on the Red Planet.
Dr. Conor Boland, a lecturer in materials physics at the University of Sussex, oversaw a research team that examined the possibilities of nanomaterials-extremely small components thousands of times smaller than a human hair-for clean energy production and building materials on Mars. The team used resources and methods currently used on the International Space Station and by NASA.
They took advantage of NASA's novel technique for drawing water from Martian gypsum, which the organization dehydrates to produce drinkable water. This yields a byproduct known as anhydrite, which NASA formerly thought was waste material but has since been found to be quite useful.
Sussex researchers showcased the material's promise for sustainable electronics and renewable energy production by converting anhydrite into tagliatelle-shaped nanobelts. Moreover, water might be continuously collected and recycled at every stage of their operation.
Using only low-energy and water-based chemistry to produce what NASA considered a waste product, the researchers could identify electrical properties in gypsum nanomaterials, which could pave the way for creating sustainable technologies and clean energy on Mars.
"This study shows that the potential is quite literally out of this world for nanomaterials," Boland said. "Our study builds off recent research performed by NASA and takes what was considered waste, essentially lumps of rock, and turns it into transformative nanomaterials for a range of applications, from creating clean hydrogen fuel to developing an electronic device similar to a transistor to creating an additive to textiles to increase their robustness."
He continued by saying that it shows the potential for more environmentally friendly developments on Earth and opens doors for sustainable technologies and construction on Mars.
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Mars' Atmosphere Swell
In related news, Mars's atmosphere is as thick, if not wider, than Earth's. However, researchers noticed that it noticeably swelled after a constant solar wind. Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN), a NASA orbiter monitoring Mars's atmosphere and its reaction to changes in the sun's activity since 2014, captured the incident.
"We're really off the charts here," Jasper Halekas, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa and a member of the MAVEN team, said at the AGU conference being held this week in California and online on Monday. "This is something we haven't seen at Mars before with MAVEN."
It was the first in nearly a decade of MAVEN operations. The event occurred as the faster part of a solar wind passed its slower counterpart and sucked up its material, leaving a sparse area in its wake.
The diminished storm landed on Mars on December 25, 2022, giving scientists a thrilling up-close look at the planet's atmosphere expanding as though it were circling a less "windy" star.
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