A survey found no water or ice at a depth of 300 meters from the Mars InSight rover’s landing point. As an opportunity, scientists emphasized the need to create a map showing the distribution of water on Mars.
A research team from the University of San Diego in the US raised the possibility of no groundwater in the plains of Mars Elysium, as NASA’s Mars Insight spacecraft landed via an official channel on the 20th day.
InSight, which landed on the Elysium Plain near Mars’ equator on November 27, 2018, was developed with the goal of elucidating the internal structure of Mars. InSight used the Inner Structure Seismic Experiment (SEIS) in April 2019 to observe the Mars (Hwajin) earthquake for the first time.
SEIS, which experienced a total of 1,300 volcanic earthquakes last June, revealed the fact that Mars’ core is liquid and its size as well as crust thickness through seismic analysis.
The research team, which analyzed seismic data from SEIS, found that Mars’ crust is porous and weak, and the sediments are unrelated to each other. Also, in the case of the InSight landing site, it was estimated that the filling between the sediment particles at 300 m depth was mostly gas, and there was no ice or even if there was 20% or less.
An official from the research team said: “It seems that the water that existed on the ancient surface of Mars in the form of lakes or seas disappeared due to the decomposition of water vapor carried to the upper atmosphere by ultraviolet radiation or its flow to Mars. I think it may,” he said.
In fact, in May 2008, NASA’s Mars probe “Phoenix” detected what appeared to be ice under the surface of the Borealis Basin, near the north pole of Mars. The European Space Agency’s Mars Exploration Orbiter (TGO) has raised the possibility of a large amount of water in the form of ice or minerals at the relatively shallow surface of the central Marineris Canyon, near the equator of Mars.
If the research team’s claim is correct, it is unlikely that there was any form of water, at least around the InSight landing site. The research team’s position is that if observational equipment like SEIS extracts more extensive data from the surface of Mars, they can create a map of the water distribution on Mars like Earth.
Mapping the waters of Mars has been a topic of debate in the academic community for a long time. NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) are currently working on an international plan for Mars exploration called the ‘Mars Ice Mapper’, which identifies liquid or ice. Water. Buried underground on Mars. Ice Mapper, MIM)” in mind.
Mars, along with the Moon, is a celestial body considered a candidate for human migration to the planet. Although the surface of Mars, which has a thinner atmosphere and has lost most of its magnetic field relative to Earth, is a hostile environment, it is shielded from radiation and has the potential to support life in the presence of water, according to the researchers. researchers. . If there is water or ice below the surface to be extracted easily, there is a good chance that it will be useful for future manned missions to Mars.
NASA and the European Space Agency are currently working together on the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program. The “Persevering” Mars rover, which landed in February last year, is collecting surface rock samples as part of it. On July 30, the two sides announced through their official channels that a review of the MSR system requirements had been completed and the Phase 3 mission to transfer valuable samples collected by the probe from Mars to Earth had been confirmed.
At the time, NASA indicated that it would use two small helicopters for this mission. In addition, it announced that it will focus on developing the “Mars Life Explorer (MLE)” mission, which will collect samples from a depth of two meters in the high latitudes of Mars over the next ten years.
Reporter Jeong Ian Angle @sputnik.kr
