SubsidieMeestersThe quest for oceanic sediments within the Ancient Martian sedimentary record
Oceanid aims to investigate Mars' ancient hydrological system and potential ocean through advanced data analysis and exploration, establishing a timeline and context for sedimentary records.
Projectdetails
Introduction
The Martian missions have gradually revealed that Mars abounds with evidence of a full ancient hydrological system favorable to life emergence. If so, there are every reason to believe that Mars has hosted a hemispheric ocean covering the northern lowlands. This hypothesis is as old as Mars exploration but has been repeatedly challenged over the past two decades. The case of the primitive Martian ocean remains one of the planet’s most controversial and unsolved issues.
Recent Discoveries
Recent discoveries are re-opening this question, mainly highlighting that the main oceanic activity may be older than we thought. Related deposits are partly exhumed, and two rovers—Mars2020/NASA, which arrived in 2021, and ExoMars/ESA-Roskosmos, to be launched in 2022—have landing sites in the oldest terrains never explored on Mars. These sites display sediments possibly linked with an ocean system.
Requirements for Resolution
To wind up the debate, the identification of ancient deposits of the same age, same composition, with a global distribution in agreement with a possible ocean level is required. However, such clues are small-scale exposures solved only by high-resolution orbital data sets (>10 To of data) or by in situ exploration, preventing a forward link to the global context.
Oceanid Proposal
Oceanid proposes to face this challenge by investigating at different scales:
- Global
- Mesoscale
- Microscale
This will be achieved using complementary datasets (orbital, in situ, and experimental data). Oceanid will also rely on innovative methodology of orbital data mining, including:
- Geological object recognition by artificial intelligence
- Erosion/deposition evolution models
- Clustering from multi-type data
Objectives
Oceanid's objectives are to:
- Describe the early Martian sedimentary record accumulated below possible global ocean levels
- Establish a fine-scale chronology of primitive events
- Contextualize Mars2020 and ExoMars missions within the global ancient hydrological system
- Correlate the oceanic context, the transient water cycle, and the mineralogy observed both from orbit and in situ.
Financiële details & Tijdlijn
Financiële details
| Subsidiebedrag | € 1.970.000 |
| Totale projectbegroting | € 1.970.000 |
Tijdlijn
| Startdatum | 1-9-2023 |
| Einddatum | 31-8-2028 |
| Subsidiejaar | 2023 |
Partners & Locaties
Projectpartners
- UNIVERSITE LYON 1 CLAUDE BERNARDpenvoerder
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Land(en)
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Glacial sculpture in Mars’ ancient megachannels
This project investigates the 'Ice flood' hypothesis for Kasei Valles' formation, aiming to redefine Mars' Hesperian climate and hydrological cycle through simulations and geological analysis.
Testing solid earth climate connections through mid ocean ridge time series
This project aims to establish a high-resolution time series of mid-ocean ridge volcanism and hydrothermal activity linked to climate changes over the past 1.5 million years through sediment analysis.
Presence and Role of Organic Matter in Icy Satellites and ExtraSolar planets
This project investigates the role of carbonaceous organic matter in the thermal and chemical evolution of ocean worlds through laboratory experiments and thermochemical modeling.
The role of silica in the dawn of life on our planet
The PROTOS project aims to simulate Hadean conditions through laboratory experiments to uncover the role of silica in early Earth's organic chemistry and the origin of life.
Volatile dynamics and regolith interactions on solar system bodies
VOLARIS aims to develop a comprehensive model and experimental framework to understand the dynamics of lunar water and other volatiles, enhancing knowledge for future space missions and resource utilization.