10 ANALYTICAL AND LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
MERIDIANIITE The MARVEL
Engineers rise to the challenge at the UK’s national synchroton science facility
P
Above: Image shows the Long Duration Experiment facility
www.scientistlive.com
utting satellites into orbit around Mars, or sending rovers to the surface, are great ways to see if there
has ever been life on Mars, but they’re expensive. An alternative to sending more rovers is to use experiments here on earth to investigate what’s going on, but, until recently, the slow formation of meridianiite meant it wasn’t possible to study its development at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, Meridianite is important because in
of
2007, the Opportunity rover detected its presence. It is a hydrated sulphate mineral that is only stable at temperatures below 2°C and satellite observations tell us that there are outcrops of hydrated sulphate minerals, several kilometres thick, in the walls of Valles Marineris, and meridianiite is thought to be widespread on Mars. Could hydrated minerals such as these be locking away all the water that once flowed on Mars? Now that Diamond has the unique Long Duration Experiment (LDE)
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
