{"id":45290,"date":"2024-03-14T11:32:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T11:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=45290"},"modified":"2024-03-14T11:32:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T11:32:18","slug":"scientists-discover-exciting-giant-volcano-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/scientists-discover-exciting-giant-volcano-on-mars\/45290\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discover exciting giant volcano on Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"
The giant volcano is located near the planet’s equator in the eastern part of Mars\u2019 Tharsis volcanic province. It was discovered along with a possible sheet of buried glacier ice.<\/p>\n
Imaged repeatedly by orbiting spacecraft around Mars since Mariner 9 in 1971 but deeply eroded beyond easy recognition, the giant volcano had been hiding in plain sight for decades in one of Mars\u2019 most iconic regions.<\/p>\n
Its discovery points to an exciting new place to search for life and a potential future destination for robotic<\/a> and human exploration.<\/p>\n The volcano\u2019s gigantic size and complex modification history indicate that it has been active for a very long time.<\/p>\n In its southeastern part lies a thin, recent volcanic deposit beneath which glacier ice is likely still present.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were examining the geology of an area where we had found the remains of a glacier last year when we realised we were inside a huge and deeply eroded volcano,\u201d said Dr Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute based at NASA Ames Research Center, and lead author of the study.<\/p>\n The central summit area is marked by several elevated mesas forming an arc, reaching a regional high and sloping downhill away from the summit area.<\/p>\n The gentle outer slopes extend out to 225 kilometres away in different directions.<\/p>\nHow did the researchers stumble upon a giant volcano on Mars?<\/h3>\n