New map of Mars water ice can help identify the best landing sites

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Scientists have created a new map that aims to identify the best water sources on Mars.

Water is considered a vital resource to support future exploration activities on Mars. Scientists believe the Red Planet contains large amounts of water. But searching for the best supplies from the earth is not easy.

The US space agency NASA has been working for years to identify the best places for such water. Most water on Mars exists as ice because of extremely cold temperatures.

A new study describes and provides detailed maps for the most likely areas of water ice. The study was recently published in Nature astronomyIt’s part of a project called Subsurface Water Ice Mapping, or SWIM.

This image, which shows two views of the northern hemisphere of Mars, is the result of a study with researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. On the left, the light gray shading shows the no

This image, which shows two views of the northern hemisphere of Mars, is the result of a study with researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. On the left, the light gray shading shows the no

NASA says the SWIM project combines 20 years of data collected by several of the agency’s Mars explorers. Researchers from the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, are leading the study, with support from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Gareth Morgan is a scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and helped lead the research. He said in a statement, “The purpose of SWIM is to provide maps from potential buried ice deposits to support the selection of human landing sites. “

He added that Mars ice is a critical resource that can be used for many things, including providing drinking water for humans, growing plants for food, and producing methane fuel and breathing air. “But the most important thing is to provide fuel for the return trip to Earth,” Morgan said.

Researchers have already experimented with methods that can use water ice on Mars to produce fuel and oxygen.

This illustration shows Jezero Crater - the landing site of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover - as it looked on Mars for billions of years when it was a lake. An inlet and outlet are also visible on either side of the lake. (Image credit: NASA / JPL

This illustration shows Jezero Crater – the landing site of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover – as it looked on Mars for billions of years when it was a lake. An inlet and outlet are also visible on either side of the lake. (Image credit: NASA / JPL

Richard Davis is leading NASA’s efforts to find resources on Mars in preparation for sending humans to the Red Planet. He said the identification of water sources on Mars could also aid in the search for life, likely to be found near the water. “The next border because Mars is for human explorers to get below the surface and look for signs of microbial life, ”Davis said.

NASA says most scientists and engineers think it is the most accessible substrate ice cream exists below polar regions of Mars in the Northern Hemisphere. The new map focused on these areas – south of the Arctic but north of the equator – because they provide more favorable conditions for humans. Spacecraft landings would also be easier there.

The map identifies two specific areas on Mars where ice is likely to be found underground. The first is in between plains in an area known as Arcadia Planitia. Scientists believe the area was formed by ancient volcanic flows. The other contains glacier-filled lowlands in an area called Deuteronilus Mensae.

Geologic formations are seen in sedimentary rock in the Hellas Basin on Mars. Researchers say these well-lit channels are archived evidence of long-lived rivers that were active on the surface of Mars more than 3.7 billion years ago. (HiRISE Image / Credit: NASA / JPL-C

Geologic formations are seen in sedimentary rock in the Hellas Basin on Mars. Researchers say these well-lit channels are archived evidence of long-lived rivers that were active on the surface of Mars more than 3.7 billion years ago. (HiRISE Image / Credit: NASA / JPL-C

The study identified the areas using five different methods that examined datasets from previous explorers on Mars. They include NASA’s Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Mars Global Surveyor.

The process was not intended to measure water ice directly, Gareth Morgan explained. Instead, it was intended to predict the probability of ice landing based on observed conditions. He said things like high levels of hydrogen and high radar wave speeds could suggest that ice is present. Scientists can also look at the rate at which the temperature changes on a surface.

NASA says it plans to use the new research to prepare for discussions with top experts to investigate possible human landing areas on Mars.

FILE: Formations created by water and sediment can be seen in the Jezero Crater on Mars, a possible landing site for the Mars 2020 Rover, in this false color photo taken by NASA, published May 15, 2019 and obtained November 15, 2019. NASA / JPL -Caltech / Handout

FILE: Formations created by water and sediment can be seen in the Jezero Crater on Mars, a possible landing site for the Mars 2020 Rover, in this false color photo taken by NASA, published May 15, 2019 and obtained November 15, 2019. NASA / JPL -Caltech / Handout

NASA also recently announced that it has entered into an agreement with international partners to develop a future robotic Mars mapping mission to search for water ice. The partnership includes the space agencies of Italy, Canada and Japan.

Additional mapping efforts in the 2020s “could enable human missions to Mars as early as the 2030s,” NASA said. For now, NASA officials plan to continue to look for the best place on Mars to send astronauts so they have enough local water ice resources to support their activities.

I am Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for Learning English, based on reports from NASA, Nature Astronomy and the Planetary Science Institute. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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Words in this story

potential adjPossible

deposit n. a layer of a substance that is created by a natural or chemical process

border n. the limits of what is known or what has previously been done in an area of ​​knowledge or activity

substrate n. the area below the Earth’s surface

polar adjWith regard to the arctic or south polar regions

clearly nA large piece of flat land

glacier nA very large area of ​​ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or over a large area of ​​land

mission nThe flight of a spacecraft to perform a particular task or job

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