Mysterious dark streaks flowing across Mars’s surface may not be the result of running water after all, a new artificial intelligence (AI) analysis suggests.
The streaks, first observed running along Mars’s cliffsides and crater walls by NASA’s Viking mission in 1976, were long thought by scientists to have formed as a result of the flow of ancient water across the now mostly desiccated planet’s surface.
But an AI algorithm trained on slope streak observations has revealed a different origin for the streaks — likely being formed from wind and dust, not water.
The shorter-lived of these features are called recurring slope lineae (RSL), and regularly spring up during Mars’s warmer spells.
If this were true, it would make these regions of particular interest to future Mars missions.
According to a new artificial intelligence (AI) analysis, mysterious dark streaks that spread across Mars’ surface might not actually be the result of water flowing.
Scientists have long believed that the streaks were created by ancient water flowing across the now largely dry surface of Mars. NASA’s Viking mission first saw them running along the cliffsides and crater walls of the planet in 1976.
However, a different origin for the streaks has been identified by an AI algorithm trained on slope streak observations; it is most likely that the streaks were formed by wind and dust rather than water. The results, which were released on May 19 in the journal Nature Communications, may have a significant impact on the locations that people decide to visit on Mars and where they look for signs of potential prehistoric life.
Adomas Valantinas, a planetary scientist at Brown University and co-author of the study, said in a statement, “That’s the advantage of this big data approach.”. Before sending spacecraft to explore, it helps us rule out some hypotheses from orbit. “.”.
The sinewy lines stretch hundreds of meters downhill and are darker than the surrounding Martian terrain. During Mars’ warmer periods, recurring slope lineae (RSL), the shorter-lived of these features, frequently appear.
Because of this, some planetary scientists hypothesized that seasonal temperature changes might be causing humid air to condense or ice or frozen aquifers to melt, which would send streams of salty water trickling down the planet’s craters. Future Mars missions would be particularly interested in these areas if this were the case.
See also: Curiosity rover discovers Mars’ largest carbon chains in 3–7 billion-year-old rock.
The study’s researchers used verified streak sightings to train a machine learning algorithm, which then scanned 86,000 satellite photos to produce a map of 500,000 streak features.
With this global map, we could compare it to databases and catalogs of other variables, such as rock slide activity, temperature, wind speed, and hydration. “Said Bickel. We could then search for correlations across hundreds of thousands of cases to gain a better understanding of the circumstances that lead to the formation of these features. “,”.
By using the map, the researchers discovered that the streaks came from layers of fine dust sliding off steep slopes and were most likely to form in areas with high wind speeds and dust deposition.
