The probe Mars Express found out that the extensive layers of several kilometers located underground at the equator Mars They are deeper than previously thought and suggest the presence of ice, making them the largest amount of water found in this part of the planet.
The Mars Express mission has been exploring the Red Planet for twenty years. 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 with more recent data from the Mars Express MARSIS radar and determined that they are deposits even thicker than we thought: until 3.7 km thick” explains Thomas Watters from the Smithsonian Institute (USA), lead author of both the new research and the first study from 2007.
And the signals detected by MARSIS are “very similar” to those of Mars’ polar ice caps, “which we know are very rich in ice,” he emphasizes. In fact, these deposits are so large that if they were to melt, the buried ice would disappear would cover the entire planet with a layer of water between 1.5 and 2.7 meters deep, enough to fill the Earth's Red Sea.
The existence of this large mass of ice will be helpful Understand how the planet's climate evolved Above all, however, it will be of crucial importance for the supply of future manned missions, emphasize the authors.
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The MMF is characterized by several features Formations formed by the windHundreds of kilometers in diameter and several kilometers high, lying on the border between the high and lowlands of Mars, it may represent the largest source of dust on Mars.
The first observations from Mars Express revealed that MFF was relatively radar transparent and had a low density -typical features 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 sediments. The new analysis suggests that it hosts layers of Dust and icecovered by a thick protective layer of dust, several hundred meters thick
And although Mars is now a dry world, water was once abundant dry river channels, ancient ocean and lake bedss and valleys carved out by water. They were also found to be important Ice reservessuch as the giant polar ice caps, buried 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 did Mars look like at that time?” If these massive deposits are confirmed to be water ice, they would change our understanding of Mars' climate history. Any ancient water deposits would be an intriguing target for “human or robotic exploration,” says Colin Wilson, ESA project scientist for Mars Express and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO).
The extent and location of these icy MFF deposits would also potentially make them of great value to our future exploration of Mars. Missions to Mars must land near the planet's equator, far from ice-rich polar ice caps or high-latitude glaciers, but they require water as a resource, making searching for ice in this region almost a necessity for manned missions on the planet. “Unfortunately, these MFF deposits are covered by Hundreds of meters of dust, which makes them inaccessible for at least the next few decades. But every piece of ice we find will help us make one best idea of where Martian water went before and where it might be today,” says Wilson
