by The probe mars express has discovered that the extensive layers of several kilometers under the soil of the equator of Mars are deeper than previously believed and suggests a large presence of ice, so much so that it would be the largest amount of water found in this part of the planet. Scientists explain that these deposits are so large that, if they melted, the buried ice would cover the entire planet with a layer of water between 1.5 and 2.7 meters deep, enough to fill Earth’s Red Sea.
The Mars Express mission has been exploring the Red planet. A little over fifteen years ago, while studying the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF), he found immense deposits up to 2.5 km deep but he could not clarify what they were.
“We have re-explored the MFF using more recent data from the Mars Express MARSIS radar, and we have discovered that the deposits are even more horrible than we thought: up to 3.7 km thick,” details Thomas Watters of the Smithsonian Institution ( USA), lead author of both the new research and the initial 2007 study. And the signals detected by MARSIS are “very similar” to those of the polar caps of Mars, “which we know are very rich in ice” , he points out.
The reservoirs hold enough water to fill the Red Sea.
The existence of this large mass of ice. will help understand how the planet’s climate evolved but, above all, it will be essential to supply future manned missions, the authors emphasize.
martian dust
The MFF is characterized by several formations sculpted by the windor, hundreds of kilometers in diameter and several kilometers high, which are on the border between the high and low lands of Mars and are, possibly, the largest source of dust on Mars.
The first observations of Mars Express revealed that the MFF was relatively transparent to radar and low density – typical characteristics of ice deposits – but at that time it could not be ruled out that they were giant accumulations of dust, volcanic ash or sediments blown by the wind.
The new analysis suggests it harbors layers of dust and ice, covered by a thick layer of protective dust several hundred meters thick. If that, Although Mars is today an arid world, it once had abundant waterwith dried river channels, ancient ocean and lake beds, and valleys carved by water.
Important reserves of ice have also been found, like the huge polar capsthe buried glaciers near the equator and the near-surface ice that spreads across the Martian soil.
Climate history of Mars
But “how long ago did these ice deposits form and what was Mars like at that time? If it is confirmed that it is water ice, these massive deposits would change our understanding of climate history from Mars. “Any ancient water deposit would be a fascinating target for human or robotic exploration,” says Colin Wilson, ESA project scientist for Mars Express and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO).
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The extent and location of these icy MFF deposits would also make them potentially very valuable for our future exploration of Mars. The missions to Mars will have to land near the planet’s equatorfar from ice-rich polar caps or high-latitude glaciers but will need water as a resource, pSo finding ice in this region is almost a necessity pPlow human missions to the planet.
“Unfortunately, these MFF depots are covered by hundreds of meters of dust”
“Unfortunately, these MFF deposits andThey are covered by hundreds of meters of dust, making them inaccessible at least for the next few decades. “But every piece of ice we find will help us get a better idea of where Martian water has flowed before, and where it may be today,” Wilson said.
