A Russian device aboard the ExoMars 2016 mission's orbiter has detected substance from Earth on the surface of Mars for the first time.
The Russian Atmospheric Chemistry Suite spectrometer installed on the Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft of the Russian-European project ExoMars-2016 has detected chlorohydrogen in the atmosphere of Mars for the first time by direct measurements, Roscosmos' press service reports.
The substance appeared during a global dust storm and then disappeared after it ended.
Oleg Korablev, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, scientific director of the Russian experiment and deputy director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the fact that chlorine appeared during the dust storm points to the possibility of interaction between the surface and the atmosphere, which had not been considered before.
According to him, a similar thing can be found on Earth, and some indirect confirmations have been found in laboratory experiments.
Traces of hydrogen chloride have previously been seen on Earth and Venus. On our planet, it is emitted when sea salt particles are converted into aerosol, so it enters the air from the sea.
Nevertheless, hydrogen chloride on Mars may be due to active volcanism. However, the main hypothesis is that the gas is located on the surface of the planet and rises with dust particles.
Photo: from open sources