ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum),
Astronomers believe they have found a huge deposit of ice beneath Mars’ equator.
According to IFL Sciencealmost two decades ago, researchers discovered some peculiar deep deposits beneath the Formação Medusae Fossae (MFF).
The latest data, published no Geophysical Research Letterssuggest that these deposits are extremely rich in ice.
The MFF is made up of many wind-sculpted elements and has an area of about 1/5 of the continental United States. It is believed to be the largest source of dust on Mars and extends as far as Gale Crater, which Curiosity da NASA is exploring.
Data from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express suggests that there is so much ice If it melted, it would cover Mars with a layer of water with 1.5 to 2.7 meters deep — this is the amount of water found in the entire Red Sea on Earth.
“We re-explored the MFF using more recent data from Mars Express’s MARSIS radar and found that the deposits are even thicker than we thought: up to 3,7 km thick,” he said. Thomas Wattersyes Smithsonian InstitutionUSA, lead author of the new investigation and the initial 2007 study.
“Excitingly, the radar signals match what we would expect to see from layered ice and are similar to the signals we see in the polar ice caps of Mars, which we know are very rich in ice”.
From the first observations, researchers considered the possibility that the deposit was rich in ice. It was relatively transparent to the radar and low densitywhereby it wouldn’t be a hard rockbut they could not exclude the possibility that it was a giant deposit of dust, volcanic ash or sediment.
“This is where the new radar data comes in. Given its depth, if the MFF were simply a giant mound of dust, we would expect it to compact under its own weight,” he said. Andrea Cicchetti, from the National Institute of Astrophysics, Italy, and co-author of the study.
“This would create something much denser than what we actually see with MARSIS. And when we modeled the behavior of different materials without ice, nothing replicated the properties of MFF — we need ice.”
The current view considers that the MFF is made up of vast layers of ice and dust, covered by a final protective layer of dust or ash several hundred meters thick. This is what you have kept the ice protected. Although scientists don’t know for sure for how long.
“This latest analysis challenges our understanding of the Medusae Fossae Formation and raises as many questions as it answers,” said Colin Wilsonproject scientist at ESA.
“If ice is confirmed, these massive deposits would change our understanding of Mars’ climate history. Any ancient water reservoir would be a fascinating target for human or robotic exploration,” he notes.
Teresa Oliveira Campos, ZAP //
2024-01-21 20:20:00
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