By the 2030s, NASA hopes to send human explorers to Mars, the surface of which is seen in a May 2017 handout photo covered in carbon dioxide snow and ice, different from the buried glaciers researchers have spotted
Posted on 01/11/2018 1:54:45 PM PST by Red Badger
Buried glaciers have been spotted on Mars, offering new hints about how much water may be accessible on the Red Planet and where it is located, researchers said Thursday.
Although ice has long been known to exist on Mars, a better understanding of its depth and location could be vital to future human explorers, said the report in the US journal Science.
"Astronauts could essentially just go there with a bucket and a shovel and get all the water they need," said co-author Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson.
A total of eight ice sites, some as shallow as a few feet (one meter) below the surface, and going as deep as 100 meters or more, have been exposed by erosion.
These underground cliffs, or scarps, appear "to be nearly pure ice," said the report.
The discovery was possible due to images and data sent by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), launched in 2005.
The probe's first find of water on Mars was published in Science in 2010.
- Widespread ice -
But now, scientists realize that ice is more widespread than previously thought, said lead author Colin Dundas, a geologist at the US Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona.
"There is shallow ground ice under roughly a third of the Martian surface, which records the recent history of Mars," he said.
"What we've seen here are cross-sections through the ice that give us a 3-D view with more detail than ever before."
The ice contains bands and color variations that suggest it was formed layer by layer, perhaps as snow accumulated over time, leading to ice sheets.
(Excerpt) Read more at afp.com ...
By the 2030s, NASA hopes to send human explorers to Mars, the surface of which is seen in a May 2017 handout photo covered in carbon dioxide snow and ice, different from the buried glaciers researchers have spotted
Wow!
“Verm sign, Usel!”
I knew this from the original TOTAL RECALL movie.
Get yo ahhs to Mahs!
I see some plastic stickin’ out so it’s too late.
Yep, just melt it, drink it, and you’re good to glow,.... I mean, go.
Water ice?
Apparently!.................
Nothing is living there! Not even an ant! lol
Some mutations are beneficial
Unless you got a third hand, that’s just one too many.
Do you have a mouth?...
Makes you wonder whatever happened to the prosthetic used in the movie, and if it will ever show up at one of those auctions they have for famous props.
can we send Elon Musk
The Martians successfully implemented a strategy to fight global warming by lowering CO2 levels. As a result, all the plants died and the surface water froze solid.
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