ExoMars discovers new gas and traces water loss on Mars

Written by Copernical Team Tuesday, 09 February 2021 19:00

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ExoMars observing water in the martian atmosphere

Sea salt embedded in the dusty surface of Mars and lofted into the planet’s atmosphere has led to the discovery of hydrogen chloride – the first time the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has detected a new gas. The spacecraft is also providing new information about how Mars is losing its water.

Notes for Editors

"Transient HCl in the atmosphere of Mars" by Korablev et al, and "Water heavily fractionated as it ascends on Marsas revealed by ExoMars/NOMAD" by G. Villanueva et al are published in the 10 February 2021 issue of Science Advances.

The papers are based on data collected by the ACS and NOMAD instruments onboard the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.

A forthcoming paper "Seasonal reappearance of HCl in the atmosphere of Mars during the Mars year 35 dusty season" by K. Olsen et al has been accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

For more information please contact:
Oleg Korablev
ExoMars TGO ACS Principal Investigator
Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Email: Korab@iki.rssi.ru

Ann Carine Vandaele
ExoMars TGO NOMAD Principal Investigator
Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy
Email: a-c.vandaele@aeronomie.be

Kevin Olsen
Department of Physics, University of Oxford, UK
Email: Kevin.Olsen@physics.ox.ac.uk

Geronimo Villanueva
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Email: geronimo.villanueva@nasa.gov

Giuliano Liuzzi
American University / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA.
Email: giuliano.liuzzi@nasa.gov

Håkan Svedhem
ESA ExoMarsTGO project scientist
Hakan.Svedhem@esa.int

ESA media relations
Media@esa.int