Future Martian settler , NASA just found you a reservoir . freeze beneath a break and pitted region in Mars ’ mid - northern parallel of latitude lies a sheet of chalk with about as much thirst - quenching voltage as Lake Superior .
The ice , located in Utopia Planitia ( pictured above ) , was happen upon by a squad of researcher head by PhD student Cassie Stuurman of the University of Texas , Austin . Analyzing the data from more than 600 earth - penetrating radar scan by NASA ’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter , the scientists have inferred the presence of an frozen , dusty water deposit spanning an orbit larger than New Mexico . The determination wasrecently publishedin Geophysical Research Letters .
To Mars researchers , it is not exactly surprising to find ice on the Red Planet . “ There ’s a lot of water ice on Mars , ” Stuurman told Gizmodo in an email . “ Based on outflow channels formed early in Martian story , we think Mars once had enough liquid water to cover the whole planet in a layer 100 ’s of metres cryptic . ” Much of that ancient water has been lost to space , but today , immense quantity remain seize at Mars ’ pole .
What is most surprising about Utopia Planitia , Stuurman aver , is the proportion of piddle ice ( 50 to 85 percent ) to rocky material , and the human relationship between ice and rock . Rather than being tightly bound to mineral , much of Utopia Planitia ’s chicken feed exists in discrete deposits . The entire ice sheet is also implausibly compact , up to 560 feet ( 170 meters ) .
“ This [ thickness ] is unprecedented for deposits of this type , and could be used to tighten up mood models , ” Stuurman say . In other words , on Mars as on Earth , compact layers of deoxyephedrine give us a longer window into the major planet ’s climate history .
The piss could also be used to slake human thirst . Indeed , several aspects of Utopia Planitia make it an attractive watering hole for succeeding colonists . For one , the frosting extends exit the equator , which , inMars ’ current “ warm phase”is considered the most hospitable part of the planet . The icing is posit on flat terrain , well suit for traversing in a rover , and it ’s close to the surface , cover by an estimated 3 to 33 feet ( 1 to 10 cadence ) of Martian regolith . “ This deposit is probably more accessible than most water chicken feed on Mars , ” study co - author Jack Holt of the University of Texas said in astatement .
Stuurman is continuing to piece together the geologic story of the part , which is suppose to have accumulated water as snow during a past water ice long time , when the planet was much more tipped about its bloc than it is today . empathise how Utopia Planitia formed may help us to find other sediment like it .
[ Geophysical Research LettersviaNASA ]
AstronomyGeologygeosciencesMarsScienceSpace
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