Future missions may include higher-resolution imagers and, shortly after the turn of the century, Mars rocks are to be flown back to Earth for analysis. Soil studies Mars is rusting, declares the Pathfinder science team. The red powder is everywhere, spread through the atmosphere like a mist. Or is it being continually replenished, a mysterious process of oxidation in an environment where oxygen is in a steady relationship with carbon dioxide. The attractive element looks like it is magacmite, also known as Gamma 8203, which is the mineral used to make computer memories.
Nature certainly has other ways of producing magacmite.
Rusty dust, the consistency of flour, covers much of the Martian surface. Return to Mars coverage. Irene Brown is a Florida-based wire service reporter and freelance writer who has covered U.S. and international space programs for 10 years.