Written by Amira Shehata
Saturday, March 18, 2023 04:00 AM
Scientists have found the remains of a recent glacier near the Martian equator, which indicates that ice may still exist at shallow depths in the region, and if this discovery is confirmed, it could have significant implications for future human exploration of the Red Planet.
According to “Space”, using data from the High-Resolution Imaging Scientific Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA’s Mars Exploration Orbiter (MRO), researchers from the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute discovered light-colored deposits (LTDs) on the surface of Mars.
These features consist of light colored sulfate salts, fault fields and moraine bands, which are signs of a ‘glacier’.
This glacier is located near the Martian equator at 7°33’S, 93°14’W, and is estimated to be 3.7 miles (6 km) long and up to 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, with a surface elevation of up to 1.1 miles ( 1.7 km).
“What we found is not ice, but a salt deposit with the detailed morphological features of a glacier,” Pascal Lee, the study’s principal investigator and a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute, said in the release, adding, “What we think happened here is that salt is formed on top of a glacier.” keeping the shape of the ice below, down to details like fault fields and moraine bands.”
The presence of such a glacier indicates that there may have been more surface water ice on Mars more recently than previously thought, which has implications for our understanding of the habitability of the Red Planet and for future exploration missions.
Previous research has found glacial activity near Mars’ equator in the distant past, while more recent glacial activity has only been seen at higher latitudes so far, and according to the statement, recent HiRISE observations indicate that these low-latitude firms are geologically young.
“A relatively small glacier at this location tells us that Mars has had surface ice recently, even near the equator, which is new,” Li said in the statement.
Although water ice is unstable on Mars near the equator at these altitudes, it is possible that some glacier water ice is preserved under the sulfate salts.
More research is needed to confirm, but if water ice is indeed present in this tropical region, there is a possibility that it could be mined as a resource for future missions.