NASA's Mars InSight mission revealed new data that contradicts the theories of the scientists regarding the existence of ice and water on the subsurface near the Martian equator.
How Much Ice is there Near the Martian Equator?
Based on the data, there is little to no ice on the top 300 meters of the subsurface beneath the landing site near the Martian equator.
Geophysicist Vashan Wright of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, said that they found that Mars' crust is weak and porous. He said that the sediments are not well-cemented, and there is no ice or not much ice filling the pore spaces. Their analysis was published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Yet, the existence of ice grains or tiny ice balls that are not binding other minerals together is not ruled out by these findings, according to Wright.
In Dec. 2019, NASA posted that the planet's mid-latitudes are covered in underground deposits of martian water ice. To locate ice that astronauts could easily dig up, the Mars Climate Sounder on MRO and the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) camera on Mars Odyssey were two heat-sensitive instruments used.
All of this data points to an abundance of water ice throughout the Martian poles and mid-latitudes. However, the map identifies some notably shallow deposits that mission designers in the future might want to investigate further.
Does Water Still Exist on Mars?
According to the study, Mars Insight data defies a prevalent theory regarding what happened to the water on Mars. Oceans of water could have existed on the red planet at one point in time. Numerous experts hypothesized that a significant amount of the water ended up in the minerals that make up the underground cement.
Co-author Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley, said that when water is in contact with rocks, a brand-new set of minerals are produced, like clay. So the water present in Mars' subsurface is not a liquid. It's part of the mineral structure. Though the rocks are not completely covered in cement, there is some of it.
However, the uncemented subsurface eliminates one way to preserve a record of life or biological activity, according to Wright. He added that water may also go into minerals that do not act as cement. By virtue of their very nature, cements keep rocks and sediments together, preventing them from being eroded away destructively.
The 300 meters below Mars InSight's landing site near the equator may be dry due to the absence of cemented sediments. The average temperature at the equator of Mars is below freezing, so if water existed there, the temperature would be low enough for it to freeze.
Mars Insight Mission and Scientists' Theory on Mars
Manga and other planetary scientists have long held the suspicion that the Martian subsurface would be covered in ice. However, they simply disappeared. At the Martian poles, large ice sheets and frozen ground ice still exist.
According to Manga, as scientists, they are now faced with the best data and the best observations. The models have predicted that there should still be frozen ground at that latitude with aquifers underneath.
In 2018, the InSight spacecraft touched down on Elysium Planitia, a smooth, flat plain close to the Martian equator. It uses a seismometer that gauges marsquakes and meteorites crashing. Its goals are focused on formation, evolution, and tectonic activity. It aims to understand the internal structure and processes of Mars to better understand the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets. It also aims to find out the current level of tectonic activity and the rate at which meteorites impact Mars.
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