Even as expectations are up that evidence of life could be established on Mars, scientists have reported the presence of a giant deposit of buried ice that has frozen water to the equivalent of Lake Superior. That may sound a setback to trace life as water is the core component of life on the Earth.
This follows the data sent by the ground-probing Shallow Radar (SHARAD) aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of NASA that scanned the Utopia Planitia region of Mars to pass the crucial indications. The data followed diagonal striping of the area to confirm large subsurface deposit of water ice.
Ice On Mars
The said ice layer is so massive that it's more than the size of New Mexico. The soil content was also 3 feet to 33 feet (1 to 10 meters) thick, making scientists affirm that the area is best for future exploration by astronauts visiting the Red Planet.
The study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, was led by Cassie Stuurman of the Institute for Geophysics at the University of Texas.
The reason why the scientist's singled out Utopia Planitia for exploration was the presence of "scalloped depressions" akin to the landscape in the Canadian Arctic which also has ice lying underneath.
Explaining the evolution of the ice sheet, Stuurman said the deposit might have formed as a result of snowfall into an ice sheet that mixed with dust "during a period in Mars history when the planet's axis was more tilted than it is today."
Massive Ice Deposits
The location of the deposits was between 39 and 49 degrees north latitude and the ice layer had a thickness ranging from 260 to 560 feet (80 to 170 m) with a water ice component at 50 to 85 percent and the rest as the rock, according to SHARAD data.
Calling this as massive, scientists said this is the equivalent of water in Lake Superior, which carries 12,090 cubic kilometers (2,900 cubic miles) of water.
However, the news of a dominant ice layer may be a setback for the quest to fix traces of life on Mars, as life on Earth is always linked to water.
Researchers are of the view that liquid water might have existed before, when poles of Mars tilted in a different angle and melting of ice happened.
At present, Mars is at a 25-degree lean and the tilt may change to 50 degrees over a 120,000-year cycle.
"We don't understand fully why ice has built up in some areas of the Martian surface and not in others," said co-author Joe Levy.
Underlining the importance of studying the distribution of Martian water, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deputy Project Scientist Leslie Tamppari said early there was enough liquid water on the surface of early Mars. Much of that is gone now with a large quantity remaining underground as ice. .
