Chinese Rover Reveals Mars Used To Have Some Beautiful Beaches
Crowds driving you nuts? Don't have a wave pool nearby? Perhaps an interplanetary surf trip is the call? A Chinese rover on Mars has discovered what appears to be sandy beaches on the Red Planet.
Based on evidence beamed back to Earth from the Zhurong rover, scientists speculate that there were once sandy beaches along the shoreline of an extinct ocean called Deuteronilus. But don't pack your board bag and spacesuit just yet. You're going to have to go back in time approximately 3.5 to 4 billion years.
It's believed that in the very distant past Mars had a more hospitable atmosphere with warmer temperatures that allowed for liquid water on the surface. Scientists point to this a a recipe for life. Surfers point to it as a recipe for surf. Heck, there could have even been Martian locals, swaying palm trees and some alien version of Great White Sharks, who knows?!
The rover, which roamed northern Mars from 2021 to 2022, used ground-penetrating radar imaging technology to take a peak under the surface of the planet, and what it found looks a lot like beaches similar to those found on Earth. It's believed that billions of years ago rivers fed into the Martian sea, creating the same kind of coastal geography and topography found here - sand dunes, slopes leading to a shoreline, etc. It's believe there was also likely some form of wave action thanks to tides and winds.
"The Martian surface has changed dramatically over 3.5 billion years, but by using ground-penetrating radar we found direct evidence of coastal deposits that weren't visible from the surface," Hai Liu, a planetary scientist at Guangzhou University and member of the Chinese team that worked on the mission, said in a news report.
"The beaches would have been formed by similar processes to those on Earth - waves and tides," Liu adds.
Could an interstellar real estate arms race between China and the U.S. be that far off? China continues to not only explore the deepest reaches of our solar system, but has also been applying a government-funded, full-court press to break into surfing. They sent their first athlete to the Olympics in Tahiti last summer, and they've been entertaining a takeover of wave-rich Taiwan for a minute now.
But the President of the United States has prioritized landing humans on Mars before his term is up in 2028. Along with his other cosmic ideas, he sees it as imperative that the U.S. 'pursue our manifest destiny into the stars."
All of this begs the question, if a wave breaks on Mars and nobody's there to ride it, did it ever even break at all?
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The healthcare professionals have a contractual or other financial relationship with Carl Zeiss Meditec AG and its affiliates and have received financial support. Contact for investorsSebastian FrericksDirector Investor RelationsCarl Zeiss Meditec AGPhone: +49 3641 220 116Mail: Contact for the pressFrank SmithHead of Global Communications OphthalmologyCarl Zeiss Meditec +49 3641 220 331Mail: Brief Profile Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ISIN: DE0005313704), which is listed on the MDAX and TecDAX of the German stock exchange, is one of the world's leading medical technology companies. The Company supplies innovative technologies and application-oriented solutions designed to help doctors improve the quality of life of their patients. The Company offers complete solutions, including implants and consumables, to diagnose and treat eye diseases. The Company creates innovative visualization solutions in the field of microsurgery. 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