On January 16th, the 2024 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement Award ceremony was held in Beijing. The research project titled "Multi-Timescale Environmental Evolution on Mars" received the 2024 CAS Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement Award in the categories of basic Research.
The research group has carried out interdisciplinary studies on major frontier issues regarding Martian environmental evolution, achieving significant breakthroughs in the research field of multi-scale aqueous activity on Mars. They developed innovative methods of weak-signal extraction and high-resolution imaging for planetary radar exploration. Using these methods, for the first time they revealed fine subsurface structural layering and lateral variations, uncovering a long history of aqueous activity and long-timescale environmental changes on Mars.
The group was also the first to discover key evidence of liquid water on the dune surface of Martian low-latitude regions, and revealed short-term environmental changes characterized by alternating aeolian and aqueous activities. These findings open up a new direction for studying aqueous activity on Martian dunes.
Furthermore, the group developed independently a high-precision Mars rover magnetometer and a novel data calibration method, achieving the first ground magnetic survey on Mars. Their findings show that significant magnetic field changes and the weak magnetic field are essential to maintain Martian long-term aqueous activity.
These achievements have refreshed our understanding of Martian aqueous activity and provide original insights into the long-term evolution of paleomagnetic field and paleoenvironment on Mars.
Multi-scale Co-evolution Model of Water Activity and Magnetic Field on Mars (Image by CHEN Ling's Group)
Research Team Group (Photo by IGGCAS)
