Russian scientists have discovered an area with ice deposits on Mars. Igor Mitrofanov, Head of the Department of Nuclear Planetology at the Institute of Space Research (IKI), RAS, spoke about this on Wednesday, December 15.
It is noted that the discovery was made based on the results of the analysis of data from the Russian FREND instrument aboard the Russian-European TGO orbiter.
“This area is practically in the center of the Mariner Valley. It is a small canyon that crosses the grand canyon. In the area of 41 thousand square meters. km, we found 40% of the mass fraction of water. This is a lot, in area – two and a half times more than Lake Ladoga. This means there must be free ice. This place is geologically convenient, the largest, and contains the largest concentration of ice, “Gazeta.Ru quoted Mitrofanov as saying.
The scientist added that the Russian device is capable of assessing the neutron flux, indicating the hydrogen content below the surface, to a depth of one meter.
“There are three types of water on Mars. Adsorbed water is like wet sand – there may be a few percent of this water. The second is chemically bound water, hydrated minerals that can accumulate up to 15% of water by weight. The third type – free ice – the characteristic value, according to our estimates, there is 40%, moreover, errors admit that the concentration reaches 100%, and hydrated minerals cannot collect so much water, ”the astrophysicist concluded.
On August 7, NASA announced the recruitment of volunteers to participate in an experiment to simulate life on Mars. The habitat, where the four participants will live for a year, was created using a 3D printer and is located inside the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
At the end of 2020, SpaceX founder, American businessman and engineer Elon Musk promised to deliver a man to Mars in the next six years.
Source: IZ
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