Scientists
say they’ve found significant deposits of water ice hiding extremely close to
the surface of Mars. This is a type of discovery that could be hugely
beneficial for future Mars exploration missions. The findings, published in the
journal Science, were led by Colin Dundas from the US Geological Survey in
Arizona.
The
discovery was made using the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science
Experiment) instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They found eight
mid-latitude locations where escarpments (or scarps), steep banks or cliffs
that have been eroded away, had exposed huge cross-sections of ice. In some of
the regions, the ice was an astonishing 100 meters (330 feet) thick, and it
starts just 1 or 2 meters (3.3 to 6.6 feet) below the surface.
What's more,
the ice appears to be layered, not too dissimilar to sedimentary layers on
Earth. This means the sheets could show us different geological periods in the
history of Mars.
“This gives
us a much more detailed window into the vertical structure of some Martian ice
sheets, and shows that they have only a thin debris cover and in some cases
fine layers,” Dundas told IFLScience.
“The key
point is that there are layered ice sheets on Mars that can be quite shallowly
buried.”
We already
knew that Mars has water ice, but this research highlights just how close some
of that ice is to the surface in mid-latitude regions on Mars. This could make
it accessible to future exploration missions, such as the European ExoMars
rover in early 2021, which will include a drill that can go 2 meters (6.6 feet)
under the surface.
You can read
the complete article here.
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