University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have helped identify a new mineral on Mars, according to a release from the university.

The UMass Amherst researchers were part of a team that identified ferric hydroxysulfate, a mineral unique to Mars that may provide clues about the planet’s history and potential to have supported life.

Mario Parente, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at UMass, Arun M. Saranathan, a graduate research assistant at UMass from 2013 to 2021, and Yuki Itoh, a Ph.D student at UMass from 2013 to 2022, co-authored a paper documenting the discovery along with researchers from NASA and other universities.

In 2010, researchers discovered a band of minerals that exhbited a spectral signature not consistent with any known mineral. Parente

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