Record ice deposits discovered on Mars
Russian scientists have discovered an area on Mars with deposits of pure water ice. Igor Mitrofanov, Head of the Department of Nuclear Planetary Science at the Space Research Institute told about this. An article about the discovery was published in the scientific journal Icarus.
The discovery was made after analyzing data from the Russian FREND instrument aboard the Russian-European orbital vehicle TGO. This area is located practically in the center of the Mariner Valley. It is a small valley that crosses the Grand Canyon. In an area of 41 thousand square kilometers,
Mitrofanov said: “We found 40% of the water mass. This is a large area – two and a half times more than Lake Ladoga.
This means that there must be free ice. “This place is geologically suitable, it is the largest, and it has the largest concentration of ice.”
According to him, the device is able to assess the flux of neutrons, with reference to the hydrogen content under the surface, at a depth of one meter. It is not yet clear whether the ice deposits are exposed – they may be covered with several centimeters of dust.
The astrophysicist added, There are three types of water on Mars. Adsorbed water, such as wet sand – there may be a small percentage of this water. The second is chemically bound water, which is hydrated minerals that can accumulate up to 15% water by weight. The third type – empty ice – the characteristic value, according to our estimates, there are 40%
According to him, the pure form of ice in the future will not require any manipulations to extract it: “Cut and melt, this is free water in the form of frozen ice, as in Yakutia.”
