Mankind gets a better idea of where to set up a store March.
NASA plans to launch a mission to Mars in the 2030s, with the aim of setting up a research post on the Red Planet in the relatively near future. If such a base is to be sustainable in the long run, its inhabitants must live off the land, utilize local resources as much as possible, officials said.
The most important of these resources are water ice, which not only can helps keep Mars pioneers alive but also facilitate their journeys back to earth. (Water can be divided into the hydrogen and oxygen contained in it, the main components of rocket fuel.) Setting up a base near accessible water is also scientifically sensible, because it is possible that signs of March life, if it ever existed, could be found in or near such places.
The base is likely to be built in the mid-Mars latitude, with plenty of water ice and enough heat and sunlight to make operations feasible. The poles are very icy, but also cold and dark; equatorial regions are warm and clear, according to Mars standards, but also relatively dry. NASA officials said the mid-latitude terrain is also at low altitudes, making it easier for heavy-duty landers to touch. (This is useful for slowing down more atmospheres that slow down spacecraft, since Mars’ sky is only 1% as thick as Earth.)
Photos: The search for water on Mars
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Hidden ice on Mars
Mars’ ice at mid-latitude lies buried beneath the planet’s famous red dirt. But NASA and its exploration partners are now getting a better idea of where its most accessible pockets are, thanks to a project called Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM), led and managed by the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
SWIM analyzes data collected over the past two decades by three NASA orbits – the Mars Exploration Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor – using five different remote sensing techniques, including neutron spectroscopy and radar. (The Mars Global Surveyor mission was officially ended in 2007, but the other two orbits are still strong.)
“Finally, NASA commissioned the SWIM project to find out how close to the equator you can go to find ice on the surface,” said Sydney Do, the Mars Water Mapping Project leader at JPL. said in a NASA statement. “Imagine that we have drawn a winding line across Mars that represents the ice boundary. With this data, we can draw the line with a finer pen instead of a thick marker and focus on parts of the line that are closest to the equator is. “
The SWIM team has just announced its first results, in an article published in the United States on Monday (February 8) journal Nature Astronomy. And the results are encouraging from an exploration point of view, showing that large sections of mid-latitude show evidence of ice buried at depths of only an inch or two (a few centimeters) to 1 kilometer.
An Important Mars Resource
The team members stressed that the new study does not indicate specific sites for future crew members. But it serves as a resource for the people who will make such decisions along the way, if all goes according to plan.
“Of course, to deliver humans safely to Mars and ensure their survival, many other considerations are needed than utilizing the water resources in situ, including the safety of the landing site and specifications for the sun and terms,” said lead author Gareth Morgan, a senior scientist at Planetary Science, studied. Institute, said in a separate statement.
“The definition of such site requirements falls outside the scope of the SWIM project and would be premature, as all human Mars mission plans are still in the conceptual stage,” Morgan added. “We offer a hemispherical perspective of ice distribution to support the initial landing studies and enable the community to explore the variety of Mars sites that offer ice.”
The ice photo could clear up considerably in the coming years, especially if a NASA orbit called Mars Ice Mapper comes off the ground. NASA discusses the Mars Ice Mapper concept with the space agencies of Japan, Canada and Italy, which may come on board as partners. The mission could finally be launched as early as 2026, agencies said.
And there are many spacecraft action coming to the Red Planet soon. Orbiters operated by the United Arab Emirates and China will arrive at Mars on Tuesday (February 9) and Wednesday (February 10), respectively. And NASA’s next Mars rover, Perseverance, will land on February 18th.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.