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On the probe Mars Express has found that the extensive layers several kilometers underground at Mars’ equator are deeper than previously thought and indicate a large presence of ice, so much so that this could be the case 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 1.5 to 2.7 meters deep, enough to fill them Earth’s Red Sea.
The Mars Express mission explored this Red Planet. When he studied the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) just over fifteen years ago, he found huge deposits up to 2.5 km deep, but was unable to clarify what type they were.
“We re-explored the MFF using new data from the Mars Express MARSIS radar and found that the deposits are even thicker than we thought: up to 3.7 km thick,” explains Thomas Watters from the Smithsonian Institution (USA). , lead author of both the new research and the first 2007 study. And the signals detected by MARSIS are “very similar” to those from Mars’ polar ice caps, “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 climate on the planet developed Above all, however, it will be of crucial importance for the supply of future manned missions, emphasize the authors.
Martian dust
The MFF is characterized by: several formations sculpted by the windor hundreds of kilometers in diameter and several kilometers high, lying on the boundary between the high and lowlands of Mars and possibly representing the largest source of dust on Mars.
Mars Express’s initial observations revealed that the MFF was relatively transparent to radar and low density – typical characteristics of ice deposits – but at the time it could not be ruled out that they were huge accumulations of dust, volcanic ash or wind-blown sediment.
The new analysis suggests that it hosts layers of dust and ice covered by a thick protective layer of dust, several hundred meters thick. And that’s it, Although Mars is now a dry world, water was once plentifulwith dry river channels, ancient sea and lake beds and valleys carved by water.
Significant ice reserves have also been found, like the huge polar ice capsburied glaciers near the equator and near-surface ice spreading across the Martian soil.
Climate history of Mars
But “how long ago did these ice deposits form and what was Mars like back then?” 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 potentially make them of great value to our future exploration of Mars. The missions too Mars needs to land near the planet’s equatorfar from ice-rich polar ice caps or high latitude glaciers, but will require water as a resource, pTherefore, finding ice cream in this region is almost a necessityplows human missions to the planet.
“Unfortunately, these MFF depots are covered in hundreds of meters of dust”
“Unfortunately, these MFF deposits andThey are covered by hundreds of meters of dust, This means they are inaccessible for at least the next few decades. “But every piece of ice we find will help us get a better idea of where Martian water used to flow and where it might be today,” Wilson said.
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