Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA 3y6p2v
NASA’s Dawn mission to the asteroid Vesta revealed mysterious gullies on its surface.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which space. According to a study, researchers have proposed that brief liquid flows, possibly resulting from briny water, might explain these formations. Lab experiments have been conducted to simulate the conditions, shedding light on a process previously unconfirmed.
The study was Environments (DUSTIE) to replicate conditions on Vesta following meteoroid impacts. These experiments revealed that while pure water freezes almost instantly in vacuum conditions, salty liquids remain fluid for longer periods. Lead author Michael J. Poston of the Southwest Research Institute noted in a statement that briny solutions could remain liquid for up to an hour, sufficient to create the observed gullies.
The study explored the possibility that impacts on Vesta exposed subsurface brine, causing temporary flows before liquid beneath, enabling it to flow for extended periods.
The findings align with observations of other celestial bodies, such as Mars and Jupiter's moon Europa, where similar processes might occur. The research also builds on discoveries made during the Dawn mission, which indicated the presence of brines on Ceres, another body in the asteroid belt. While frozen brine on Vesta has yet to be confirmed, these experiments suggest new possibilities for understanding the geologic activity on airless worlds.
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