Geological characteristics of China's Tianwen-1 landing site at Utopia Planitia, Mars
Geological characteristics of China's Tianwen-1 landing site at Utopia Planitia, Mars
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DOI：
10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114657
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发表时间：
2021-12
期刊：
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Xing Wu;Y. Liu;Chaolin Zhang;Yuchun Wu;Feng Zhang;Junhan Du;Z. L. Liu;Y. Xing;R. Xu;Zhiping He;Yangting Lin;Yongliao Zou
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Xing Wu;Y. Liu;Chaolin Zhang;Yuchun Wu;Feng Zhang;Junhan Du;Z. L. Liu;Y. Xing;R. Xu;Zhiping He;Yangting Lin;Yongliao Zou
中国首次火星使命天问一号于2021年5月15日成功降落在乌托邦平原南部的表面。本文对“天问一号”使命在乌托邦平原上的目标着陆场（1号着陆场）和备用着陆场（2号着陆场）的地质特征进行了研究。地点1位于Utopia盆地南部的地势较低且通常平坦的区域，而地点2位于Utopia-Elysium过渡区。两个着陆点的几个地质特征表明存在大量挥发性物质，并详细绘制了这两个着陆点的地图，包括有坑的圆锥体、巨大的多边形、壁垒和薄饼状陨石坑。与火山有关的地貌，例如，熔岩流、火山泥流和岩脉也被绘制在站点2上。成分分析表明，由于灰尘覆盖和/或缺乏数据覆盖的区域含水物质的曝光量很小。陨石坑计数分析表明，1号站点的绝对模式年龄为~3.68 Ga和~3.45 Ga时，包括和不包括鬼陨石坑。2号站的绝对模式年龄为3.34Ga。最后，讨论了乌托邦平原的演化历史，并提出了相关的科学假设，以检验现场勘探。我们的研究为天文一号的实地勘探提供了一个框架，这将对北方低地的性质和演化历史产生重要的制约。
China's first Mars mission Tianwen-1 successfully touched down the surface of the southern Utopia Planitia on 15th May 2021. In this study we investigate the geological characteristics of the target landing site (Site 1) and a backup landing site (Site 2) on Utopia Planitia for Tianwen-1 Mission. Site 1 is located in a topographic low and generally flat area to the southern Utopia basin, while Site 2 is located in the Utopia-Elysium transition zone. Several geological features indicative of the presence of a large reservoir of volatiles are identified and mapped in detail for both landing sites, including pitted cones, giant polygons, rampart and pancake craters. The volcanism-related morphologies, e.g., lava flows, lahars, and dikes, are also mapped for Site 2. The compositional analysis reveals little exposures of hydrous materials due to dust cover and/or lacking of data coverage over the regions. Crater counting analysis showed that the Site 1 has an absolute model age of ~3.68 Ga and ~3.45 Ga when including and excluding ghost craters, respectively. The absolute model age of Site 2 is ~3.34 Ga. Finally, the evolutionary history of the Utopia Planitia is discussed, and the related scientific hypotheses to be tested for the in situ exploration are suggested. Our study provides a framework for the Tianwen-1 in situ exploration, which will impose important constraints on the nature and evolution history of the northern lowlands.