Mars is quite famously the red planet and it’s red colour has long been thought to be due to something known as hematite - a type of iron oxide - i.e. plain old rust.
That’s what we’re all taught, it’s a common mineral on mars, it explains the colour. But a study published this month by Valantinas and collaborators claim it’s ferrihydrite that causes the red colour instead - a different type of iron oxide one with water, H2O, in its chemical make up.
Once again pointing to the idea that Mars had a lot more water on its surface in the past, before becoming the desert world we know and love today.
our hopes of confirming this idea rest on the shoulders of the Perseverance rover and the Mars Sample Return mission...