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WASHINGTON, May 27: NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft has reportedly detected water ice under the surface of the red planet, according to scientific papers to be published this week, a finding that could be a giant step in exploration of Mars.
Many astronomers believe Mars used to have quantities of liquid water on its surface, but they have never agreed on where the water went. Research to be published in this week’s edition of the journal Science may help answer that question.
Liquid water is seen as a prerequisite for Earth-type life on a planet. Underground water ice could be a key to understanding how Mars developed and could inform future exploratory missions.
While full technical details will not be made public until Thursday, the detection of sub-surface water ice on Mars is just what Mars Odyssey was sent into space to investigate.
Launched in April 2001, Odyssey began its primary science mission last February by starting to map the amount and distribution of chemical elements and minerals on Mars’ surface.
One key element in the search is hydrogen, which would mostly likely be seen in water ice in the shallow sub-surface of the planet.
Odyssey is also recording data on radiation in low orbit around Mars, to determine any radiation-related risk to future human explorers.
Mars is one of the most studied objects in our solar system. As Earth’s next-door planetary neighbor, it has the advantage of location and is also thought to be similar in composition to Earth, rather than being a gas giant like Jupiter.
Its cold and rocky surface has been captured in photographs from the orbit and from Mars Pathfinder, a robotic craft that beamed back pictures as it rolled along the Martian surface in 1997.
In addition to Mars Odyssey, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is also collecting data with the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, which has recently taken pictures of dust storms on the Martian surface.
GOOD NEWS: A British space scientist said on Monday that water under the surface of Mars could speed up the search for life on the red planet and lighten the load of manned missions in the next two decades.
“This is new good news for Mars exploration,” Colin Pillinger, a professor of planetary and space science at Britain’s Open University, told Reuters.
Pillinger headed the team of scientists who developed the Beagle 2 Mars lander which will be carried in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express when is launched in May 2003.
The aim of the mission is to study the geology of the planet for evidence relating to past life on Mars. Beagle 2 is due to arrive at Mars in December 2003.
“We have argued for ages that there is water on Mars because we have measured Martian meteorites that say there is water there. However, the conceived wisdom was that we didn’t know whether the water had been lost from Mars,” Pillinger said.
He said the data from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft supports their findings and puts Beagle 2 in a good position to look for signs of life on the planet.—Reuters
