The Italian space agency, the Canadian space agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA have announced that they plan to develop a plan for a robotic Mars ice-mapping mission. Together the agencies form a team that will work on the mission concept.
It is known as the Mars Ice Mapper mission and can contain four orbiters. If the mission concept gets the green light from the agencies, it can start by 2026.
Together, these orbiters could find ice deposits under the surface of Mars, taking into account their depth, location, distribution and abundance. A radar-equipped orbiter could also gather information about how accessible these ice deposits might be, essentially detecting whether the surface dust and rocky layers surrounding them could form a hard barrier.
The first human missions to Mars will likely consist of 30 days of surface exploration. Not only can the orbiters help determine landing sites for these missions, but their data can also be used to determine the scientific targets for the missions.
Astronauts on Mars can extract nuclei from these ice deposits, indicating that life once existed on Mars.
Later missions with longer expeditions on the surface of Mars could use this map of ice deposits to study the climate and geology of Mars, avoid any dangerous terrain, and use them as resources.
Ice can be used to divert hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, as well as mining; Agriculture; manufacturing; preservation of all habitats used by the astronauts; and of course as a good backup for life support systems.
Transporting water to Mars would be arduous and costly, so using local ice on the red planet could reduce some of the challenges of transporting this resource.
The concept could evolve into other agencies and commercial partnerships.
“This innovative partnership model for Mars Ice Mapper combines our global experience and enables cost sharing across the board to make this mission more feasible for all interested parties,” said Jim Watzin, NASA’s senior advisor for desk architectures and mission alignment . .
“Human and robotic exploration go hand in hand, with the latter helping pave the way for smarter, safer human missions further into the solar system. Together we can help prepare humanity for our next giant leap – the first human mission to Mars.”
Any scientific data collected by the orbiters would be shared with the world, both for research benefits and for general exploration of Mars.
Prior to human missions to Mars, NASA is sending astronauts back to the moon under the Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and next man at the moon’s undiscovered south pole by 2024.
Prior to that mission, NASA plans to send VIPER, or the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, to take a closer look at water ice trapped in permanently shaded areas of this polar region. This ice can also be used to aid the Artemis astronauts in a variety of ways – as well as to help NASA understand how to use the available resources of the Moon and Mars.
The moon is a good testing ground for future missions to Mars, and the VIPER mission is expected to land on the moon in late 2023.
“In addition to supporting plans for future human missions to Mars, learning more about subterranean ice will provide significant opportunities for scientific discoveries,” said Eric Ianson, deputy director of NASA Planetary Science Division and Mars Exploration Program Director.
Mapping water ice at the surface would reveal a hitherto hidden part of the Martian hydrosphere and the layers above it, which could help uncover the history of environmental changes on Mars and allow us to answer fundamental questions about home to microbial life or perhaps still. ”