Original title: a large amount of water ice was found below the north pole of Mars
According to a recent report by the US space network, US scientists said that they accidentally found new water ice 1.6 kilometers below the Martian North Pole. These layered mixtures of ice and sand or the 'remains' of the long lost ancient Martian polar ice sheet may be one of the largest reservoirs on Mars. The latest research is crucial to finding 'clues' of life on Mars.
The researchers made the above conclusions based on the data collected by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter has been orbiting Mars since 2006, and has just completed its 60000th trip around Mars. The orbiter is equipped with a radar instrument, which can see about 2.5 kilometers below the surface of Mars. From these data, the researchers found a lot of ice.
Stefano & middot, lead author and Ph.D. student in geology, Institute of Geophysics, University of Texas; "We didn't expect to find so much water ice here, which may make it the third largest reservoir on Mars after the polar ice sheet," nerozi said in a statement submitted to the American Geophysical Union
There is water when there is ice. A second study by other scientists also supports the existence of large amounts of water ice in the region. The second study used Martian gravity data from several NASA Mars missions. And research shows that if these water ice melts and distributes evenly around Mars, it will submerge Mars by about 1.5 meters.
More interestingly, the water ice here is not pure ice, but a mixture of ice and sand. The team found that in some places, 90% of the sand and ice is water.
If this finding holds, these ice and sand layers may be the 'remains' of the ice sheet that covered Mars's polar regions hundreds of millions of years ago. They can also prove that the Martian climate warms and cools according to small changes in its orbit and inclination.
The researchers pointed out that the new research will also help scientists map the water source of Mars, which is very important to find the 'clues' of life, because if there is life on Mars, they are likely to live by water.
In addition, in July last year, another group of scientists published the survey results that very salty lake water was buried under the ice 1.6 kilometers from the south pole of Mars.