Mars in Kutch
Srivastava said that the study uses samples from Kutch as ‘analogues for sulphate-bearing lithology of Mars’, providing groundwork for better spectral identification of natrojarosite based on satellite data from Mars and understanding of earlier environmental conditions on Mars. Researchers said the study’s findings will help accurately interpret Martian orbital and rover-acquired data, not just on mineral composition but also on factors such as grain size, scattering behaviour, and viewing geometry. – Scientists say climatic conditions — arid, and acidic — that shaped the mineral here might have also caused its formation on Mars in the distant past – Different aspects of the mineral were studied. Ahmedabad: Yellowish-brown soil near Mata no Madh in Lakhpat taluka in Kutch, about 80km from Bhuj, may look like any other soil to the untrained eye. But to scientists studying Mars, the Kutch soil offers a mineral similar to one found on the Martian surface. A study by researchers of Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, and IIT-Gandhinagar focuses on how the Kutch soil can help analyse mineral-centric remote sensing data from Mars. The study’s authors include Denesh Karunakaran, Neeraj Srivastava, Abhishek Verma, Tvisha Kapadia, and Dhwanil Patel. Scientists then created a ‘library’ of attributes against which the data generated from Mars can be compared