Mars Express (ESA) discovered frozen water at the equator of Mars
The Red Planet never ceases to amaze us. Much more like Earth in the distant past, It has undergone changes that have turned it into the arid frozen desert it is today.. However, recent observations by Mars rovers and orbiters suggest that Mars hasn’t lost all its water as we thought decades ago. The Mars Express orbiter now provides new evidence of the massive presence of water in the interior of Mars at the equator.
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe contains a galaxy various high-tech instruments capable of exploring the surface and interior of Mars.. The MARSIS radar collects information from the subsurface, allowing it to interpret its internal structure and composition.
Several years ago, MARSIS discovered the presence of large masses of water in the depths of the southern polar cap of Mars. This is a discovery This stunned us because everything indicated that the water would be in liquid form. forming underground lakes.
In their search for Martian water, researchers went even further by studying an intriguing region of the Martian equator called the Medusa Fossa. This region consists of several wind-shaped plateaus stretching hundreds of kilometers wide and several kilometers high. The impressive structure is located between the so-called high and low lands of Mars, near the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons.. In fact, it is one of the largest sources of fine dust on the Red Planet. What’s amazing is that this stack contains an unexpected surprise.
What’s underneath the jellyfish pit formation?
The Mars Express probe has been analyzing the formation of Medusa’s pits for almost twenty years. Soon after the start of operation, he revealed the presence of thick deposits up to 2.5 km deep. but then its content was unclear. Now MARSIS researchers have provided more details, reimagining this formation based on what has been observed in other regions, such as the south polar cap.
The discovery, published in Letters on Geophysical Research and declared by ESA, indicates the presence in the subsurface layers of water ice extending several kilometers below the surface.
Overall, this is the largest amount of water found in this part of the planet. To give us an idea, if it melted, the ice trapped in this hole would cover the entire planet. with a layer of water depth of 1.5 to 2.7 meters. On Earth, this would be equivalent to what is needed to fill the Red Sea.
Astrobiological views on Mars
Over the past two decades, we have accumulated knowledge about the presence of water on the Red Planet. Mars Express has already revealed the presence of underground lakes near the southern polar cap of Mars..
More than a decade ago, NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor orbiter discovered dark plumes rising from the slopes of some craters. Called repeating slant lines (RSL), they were explained by the sublimation of hydrated salts. that in some areas of the subsurface a kind of permafrost would form. The impacts create craters and can expose the interior ice layers to sunlight.
Magnesium and sodium chlorate and perchlorate appear to be abundant in these hydrated brines. These salts are in the correct proportions They were able to lower the freezing point of water to -193 ºC.. Thus, they give these hydration brines the ability to flow at the very low temperatures of today’s Mars.
Possibility of detecting bacteria
Thus, water could flow in some areas of the interior of Mars. supporting the existence of the underground hydrological cycle. This habitat may have the potential to harbor extremophilic bacteria.
If living conditions were much better in the past, there is still the possibility that there are microorganisms that have gradually moved into these last habitable niches.
We are still a long way from revealing these details. Future manned missions to the Red Planet will need to better understand what may still be in its depths.
Josep M. Trigo Rodriguez, Principal Investigator of the Meteorites, Small Bodies and Planetary Sciences Group, Institute of Space Sciences (ICE–CSIC)
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.