Category Archives: Mars

Did you know that Mars wasnt always the cold planet we imagine today? Evidence from the Curiosity rover suggests that billions of years ago, Mars was a much warmer and wetter place a world covered with water from rivers, lakes, and possibly even oceans.

NASAs Curiosity rover is on a mission to uncover the secrets of this ancient water, and its latest investigation site is sending ripples of excitement through the scientific community.

Mars Gediz Vallis channel, spotted from space, resembles a dried-up riverbed. Scientists are drawn to this feature because it hints at being carved by ancient water or wet mudslides.

This makes it crucial for understanding the past environments of Mars, especially those potentially harboring liquid water.

By exploring such channels, rovers like Curiosity can shed light on Marss ancient climate and its past potential for life.

For the past several years, Curiosity rover has been steadily ascending the slopes of Mount Sharp. This enormous mountain, rising 3 miles above the dusty floor of Gale Crater, is like a geological history book written in layers of rock.

Each layer whispers of a distinct era in Mars past a story of shifting climates and evolving landscapes.

Curiositys climb began in 2014. Early on, the rover encountered layers rich in clay minerals a telltale sign of prolonged interaction between rock and water. This hinted at a Mars that was once far wetter than the barren world we see now.

Mount Sharps layered slopes on Mars tell a dramatic story of the planets changing environment. Early on, Mars may have hosted rivers and lakes conditions ripe for potential life.

As Curiosity climbs, it sees layers revealing a transformation. Clay minerals in lower regions imply a watery past where rock and liquid interacted. But higher up, sulfate-rich layers point to a Mars where water vanished, leaving salty remnants.

This reveals not a static Mars, but one with a complex climate history. Lakes became deserts, only for water to return and carve features like the Gediz Vallis channel.

This suggests dramatic cycles of wet and dry periods, raising tantalizing questions about the planets past water cycles and long-term climate shifts.

Investigating the Gediz Vallis channel has the potential to shake up our understanding of Mars geological history.

If water indeed carved the channel, it suggests that dramatic episodes of water flow continued to shape the planets surface, even during much drier periods of Martian history.

Theres another exciting element to this story. The channel holds a jumble of boulders and other debris that tumbled down from higher up Mount Sharp regions Curiosity will never reach. These rocks offer scientists a sneak peek at the geology in these inaccessible areas.

If the channel or the debris pile were formed by liquid water, thats really interesting. It would mean that fairly late in the story of Mount Sharp after a long dry period water came back, and in a big way, said Curiositys project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

This discovery highlights a surprising fact. Curiosity has already shown us something important. Mars shift from wet to dry probably wasnt smooth or gradual.

There seem to have been cycles, with water appearing and disappearing over immense stretches of time. The Gediz Vallis channel could be evidence of a surprisingly late resurgence of water.

As we speak, the Curiosity rover continues to examine the channel, taking pictures and gathering data.

Every rock, every bit of dust, is being analyzed by the mission team back on Earth, eager to piece together the dramatic saga of Mars transformation from a potentially habitable world to the stark place it is today.

Mars, it seems, is full of unexpected twists and turns. And somewhere, perhaps concealed within those ancient riverbeds or debris flows, there might even be clues that point to the possibility of past Martian life.

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New insights into Mars' vanishing water mystery from Curiosity rover - Earth.com

Mars has forged a partnership with the UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to bolster food safety.

The initiatives will see Mars and FAO exchange knowledge and information to support science-based decision-making on food safety. The organisations will develop guidance for increased uptake of the Codex Alimentarius (Latin for 'Food Code') standards and codes of practices by the private sector.

The Codex is a collection of internationally recognised standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations published by the FAO relating to food, food production, food labelling, and food safety.

The FAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.

One area Mars and the FAO will look at is food allergen management by food operators. It will seek to form best practices around mycotoxin control and mitigation in maize value chains.

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds that are naturally produced by certain types of moulds, and grow on foodstuffs such as cereals, dried fruits, nuts and spices.

Mars and FAO will collaborate on emerging food safety issues, new methods and technologies and trends in research and development that might have impacts on food safety, Mars said.

Dr Abigail Stevenson, Chief Science Officer for Mars said: At Mars we believe everyone has the right to safe food and that collaboration is essential as we work together to address food safety challenges.

This is a great opportunity to share our technical knowledge and scientific expertise in mycotoxin management and develop scientific publications which help to ensure safe food for all.

Mars and FAO share common objectives with regards to strengthening food safety to enhance food security through capacity building, sharing knowledge and information and development of innovative, science-based approaches.

She added: Our partnership with the FAO started almost a decade ago and by extending our cooperation, we are helping to raise the bar in food safety for everyone.

FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said: Strong science to support food safety decisions and strong public-private cooperation for food safety are increasingly important to ensure sustainable and resilient agrifood systems.

FAO and Mars will continue to collaborate to build on work thats already been done and demonstrate impact and concrete results.

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Mars and FAO Food Safety Partnership Targets Mycotoxins - Food Digital

As humanity stands on the cusp of interplanetary exploration, with NASAs Artemis program paving the road to Mars, scientists are focused on devising strategies to ensure the mental well-being of space travelers. A mission to Mars, spanning up to two and a half years, will test the psychological resilience of crew members as they adapt to the inevitable stress of space travel, delayed communications with Earth, and the potential impact of interpersonal tensions. A University of California, San Francisco, psychiatrist highlighted the importance of addressing these stressors for the success of future missions.

Spacecraft voyaging to Mars will face a communication delay of approximately 25 minutes each way. This lag impedes real-time assistance from Mission Control during emergencies and requires more independent operation by the astronauts. Researchers propose efficient communication methods, such as structured texting and summarized inquiries, to surmount the time gap.

On Earth, simulations can offer valuable insights into crew dynamics when direct contact with ground control is limited. Lessons learned can improve interactions and autonomy during actual Mars missions. Studies of crews in orbital environments reveal that frustration often surfaces through misguided blame towards Mission Control, stating the need for preventative strategies such as regular conflict resolution sessions.

Another emotional challenge is the disappearing-Earth phenomenon, which may cause astronauts to feel profound isolation as the Earth diminishes to a mere point in the vastness of space. Possible countermeasures include providing visual access to Earth through telescopes and virtual reality simulations highlighting familiar earthly scenes.

By leveraging the planned Gateway space station to simulate parts of the Mars journey and practicing Mars-like explorations on the Moon, researchers hope to prepare astronauts not only technically but also mentally and emotionally for their historic venture to the Red Planet.

Importance of Mental Health in Space Exploration

As humanity prepares for the significant leap into interplanetary exploration, notably with NASAs Artemis program setting the stage for eventual human missions to Mars, the importance of mental health among astronauts has emerged as a critical factor for mission success. The psychological challenges faced on a journey to Marsa mission that could last up to two and a half yearsare multifaceted, encompassing the stressors of prolonged space travel, the effects of delayed communications with Earth, and the intricacies of managing interpersonal dynamics in confined spaces.

Communication Challenges and Autonomy

The prospect of a 25-minute communication delay in each direction between a Mars-bound spacecraft and Earth poses significant operational challenges. Such a delay complicates mission support and can necessitate a greater level of autonomy for the crew. This condition drives research toward developing efficient communication protocols and empowering astronauts to handle complex situations independently.

Simulations and Crew Dynamics

Research on Earth plays a crucial role in preparing for these challenges. Simulation exercises can offer valuable insights into the psychological resilience of crew members and the dynamics within a team when direct contact with mission support is limited. Studies conducted in analogous environments, such as orbital habitats or isolated terrestrial bases, inform guidelines and strategies to enhance group cooperation, autonomy, and conflict resolution skills needed during actual Martian expeditions.

The Disappearing-Earth Phenomenon

The disappearing-Earth phenomenon, where astronauts experience a sense of profound isolation as Earth shrinks to an insignificant point, prompts the need for innovative countermeasures. Incorporating visual connections with Earth, such as through telescopes or virtual reality systems depicting familiar landscapes, could serve as a mitigation strategy, providing psychological comfort and reducing feelings of isolation.

Interplanetary Travel and the Space Industry

Interplanetary travel represents not only a scientific and exploratory achievement but also signals a new frontier for the space industry. Market forecasts project a significant expansion of the space sector, reinforcing the importance of sustainable and scalable solutions for long-duration human spaceflight. Key industry players, from established agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to private companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, are investing in technology and infrastructure capable of supporting these endeavors.

The growth in the space industry brings to the forefront issues such as the legal and ethical considerations of space colonization, the environmental impact of increased launches and space activities, and the long-term health effects on humans involved in deep space exploration. These concerns, combined with the psychological aspects of space travel, are integral to the holistic success of missions to Mars and beyond. As the industry evolves, the importance of international cooperation and shared standards becomes paramount to tackle these complex challenges.

As research and preparations continue to ensure the well-being of space travelers, the planned Gateway space station will serve as a testbed for simulated Mars mission experiences, including the psychological and emotional preparation necessary for the monumental task of setting foot on the Red Planet. The efforts span governmental, commercial, and academic sectors, intertwining to push the boundaries of whats possible in human spaceflight, highlighting a historical moment in our journey as a spacefaring civilization.

Iwona Majkowska is a prominent figure in the tech industry, renowned for her expertise in new technologies, artificial intelligence, and solid-state batteries. Her work, often at the forefront of innovation, provides critical insights into the development and application of cutting-edge AI solutions and the evolution of energy storage technologies. Majkowskas contributions are pivotal in shaping the future of sustainable energy and intelligent systems, making her a respected voice in both academic and industrial circles. Her articles and research papers are a valuable resource for professionals and enthusiasts alike, seeking to understand the impact and potential of these transformative technologies.

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Preparing for the Psychological Journey to Mars: Innovative Research on Astronaut Well-being - yTech

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NASA mission sparks 'space billiards' as boulders head toward Mars - Gwinnettdailypost.com

Over two million years ago, a giant asteroid slammed into Mars, scarring the surface with one massive crater and around two billion smaller individual craters. These secondary craters appear across a region of 1,000 miles (1,800 kilometers), making this asteroid event one of the biggest impacts seen on the Red Planet in relatively recent history.

Asteroids massive enough to create widespread destruction like this are estimated to impact Mars just once every 3 million years.

The impact occurred at the equator of Mars in a region humanity has named Elysium Planitia; it left behind a main, 8.6-mile (13.9-km) wide and 0.62-mile (1-km) deep crater called Corinto. The secondary craters from the impact, on the other hand, range in size from 656 feet (200 meters) to 0.8 miles (1.3 km) in diameter and extend outward in a large "ray system," according to the scientists behind the results.

Despite being 2.3 million years old, the crater and its secondaries some of which are carved into lava flows originating from the summit of the extinct Martian volcano Elysium Mons are considered to be extremely young by the team.

Related: Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen?

"Corinto crater is a fresh impact crater in Elysium Planitia that produced one of the most extensive systems of thermal rays and secondary craters on Mars, extending around 1,243 miles (2,000 km) to the south and covering a nearly 180 arc on Mars," the team wrote in a related study.

The authors explained how they employed both thermal and visible imaging data collected by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to describe the crater and blanket of fragments, or "ejecta," thrown into the Martian atmosphere by the impact. Ejecta refers to any material that's "ejected" from a crater as a result of some impact. In this case, the ejecta are pieces of Mars shot out from the giant, main crater cavity formed due to the asteroid's crash.

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This data, gathered by the spacecraft's High-Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) and Context Camera (CTX) instruments, was given to a machine learning program that separated this impact's ejecta-caused craters from other Martian craters originating from asteroid strike events specifically. This information was then used to estimate the age of the impact and the total number of secondary craters the initial impact generated.

Measuring the distribution of secondary craters extending out from Corinto, the team found the greatest concentrations to the south and southwest of the main impact crater.

There is a lack of ejecta to the north of the crater, which the scientists think indicates the asteroid that caused this devastation entered the Red Planet's atmosphere at an angle of around 30 to 45 degrees from the north or northeast.

The furthest secondary craters found by the researchers indicated that some of the ejecta from the impact were launched as far as 1,150 miles (1,850 km). That's about four times the length of the Grand Canyon.

The secondary craters didn't just vary in distance from the main impact zone and in size, however. The team behind the findings also classified them in relation to their shape. Some were round and semi-circular, while others appeared "flattened circular," or "elliptical."

The researchers determined that the shape, or "morphology," taken by the secondary craters related to the speed at which the fragments that created them were ejected, the size of those fragments, and the surface composition of the Martian region on which they crashed. Close to Corinto, the secondary craters took the form of semi-circles, with elliptical-shaped craters found further from the main impact zone.

"The large number of secondary craters formed by Corinto are consistent with most of the ejected material being strong, competent basalt," the team wrote.

Basalts are volcanic rocks formed by the rapid cooling of lava rich in magnesium and iron, so the fragments likely represent lava that previously spewed from the volcano that the asteroid slammed into.

The composition of some of the ejecta launched from Mars' surface by this asteroid impact indicate the space rock slammed down into water or ice. This is also indicated by "pits" spread across the floor of the Corinto crater, which imply the drainage of water or gas released by the effect of the impact on ice-rich materials.

The team's results were presented at the 55th annualLunar and Planetary Science Conferencein Texas earlier in March.

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Giant Mars asteroid impact creates vast field of destruction with 2 billion craters - Space.com

In the future, if nothing is done to stop it, an asteroid not much larger than a football stadium will crash into the planet. Should it hit a city, it will annihilate it much like a non-radioactive nuclear bomb. There are 25,000 asteroids, roughly 460-feet long, like this zipping about in near-Earth space, and about 15,000 of them are yet to be found.

One way to stop them from hitting Earth is to change their trajectory by crashing into them with a small spacecraft. In September 2022, to test this deflection technique, a van-size spacecraft slammed into a 525-foot-long (harmless) near-Earth asteroid named Dimorphos at 14,000 miles per hourand in doing so, successfully shifted its orbit around a larger space rock named Didymos.

This was DARTNASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test missionhumanitys first ever planetary defense experiment. It was hailed as a huge success, but it produced some surprising after-effects, including a swarm of boulders that were found enveloping Dimorphos several months post-impact. These relatively small boulders posed no threat to Earth, but scientists did wonder where they might eventually end up.

The Webb telescope records the impact of the DART collision at 22 minutes, 5 hours, and 8 hours after the moment of impact.

Courtesy of STScI/NASA

Now, a recently published studyyet to be peer-reviewedhas offered up some answers. By carefully simulating the myriad ways in which these boulders will orbit the Sun over the next 20,000 years, scientists found that there is no possibility of any of them burning up in Earths skies.

But theyre going to cross the orbit of Mars, says study author Marco Fenucci, a near-Earth object dynamicist at the European Space Agencys Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre. And if both Mars and the mini-asteroids meet at that crossing, some of them will puncture through the thin Martian atmosphere. And they will arrive to the ground and make a crater, says Fenuccicreating bowl-shaped scars up to 1,000 feet long.

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NASA smashed an asteroid with a rocket. The debris could hit Mars. - National Geographic

Over the past two decades, HiRISE and the Context Camera on MRO have catalogued hundreds of new impact craters. Some of these recent craters, particularly in the mid- to high-latitudes, have excavated buried water-ice that typically is exposed within the crater cavity.

In some cases, these patchy icy deposits and meter-sized blocks of ice are thrown out of the crater and form part of the ejecta. This image shows one such example of a 13-meter (43 feet) diameter crater in Arcadia Planitia where ice was exposed both in the crater interior and ejecta.

The crater is accompanied by a dark blast zone, extending almost 850 meters (half a mile) from the center. Subsequent observations permit monitoring of the gradual sublimation of these ice exposures at high resolution. This provides details about sublimation rates at a given location over time and gives us important insights for understanding near-surface ice-stability and the present-day climate on Mars.

The ice exposed by such craters also helps scientists get an idea of the purity, amount, and the depth of buried ice that relates to the conditions when the ice was initially deposited.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 30.4 centimeters [12.0 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 91 centimeters [35.8 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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Mars Mysteries: Unveiling the Icy Craters - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars methane is hard to trace, but a solution might be on the way.

An early-stage airplane concept called MAGGIE will soon kick off a nine-month NASA-funded study to explore its feasibility for soaring over Mars. It won't go to the Red Planet any time soon, if ever, but there's a clear science need for more flying vehicles on Mars.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, the first heavier-than-air vehicle to soar on Mars, finished 72 flights after arriving with the Perseverance rover in February 2021. While Ingenuity had a hard landing in January 2024 that grounded it for good, there's plenty of room for more flying vehicles in the future.

MAGGIE short for "Mars Aerial and Ground Intelligent Explorer" is designed to operate for a Martian year (nearly two Earth years) anywhere around the Red Planet. Flying 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) above the surface, one of its prime missions could be finding methane. That elusive molecule could be a sign of life, but scientists have had little luck figuring out its presence in the Martian atmosphere after decades of searching.

Related: Life after Ingenuity: How scientists hope to reach the skies of Mars once more

Methane, a possible biosignature gas, has been hard to find on Mars. It pops up now and again in the atmosphere, detectable by spacecraft on or orbiting the Red Planet or by powerful telescopes here on Earth. NASA's long-running Curiosity rover mission (ancestor to Perseverance), for example, has repeatedly detected methane since 2012, but the levels go up and down a background level of less than 0.5 parts per billion (ppb) molecules of air, sometimesspikingup to 20 ppb.

The next logical step could be a flying vehicle like MAGGIE, principal investigator Gecheng Zha told Space.com. Zha is CEO of Coflow Jet and a professor at the University of Miami who received nine months of funding under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program to explore this concept further.

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MAGGIE could stay in the air for a distance of 111 miles (179 km), its design suggests, on a single charge of its solar panels. Zha says high-resolution instruments on board could pick out trace amounts of methane in the atmosphere, or other potential transient phenomena like liquid water on Mars. Better yet, "we can also land in any place we'd like to get samples," he told Space.com.

MAGGIE's presumed range comes courtesy of patented technology that would use air compressors to keep the aircraft aloft. The air compressors move small amounts of atmosphere from the back of the wings toward the front, both increasing lift and reducing drag.

This process would allow MAGGIE to be flexible for different temperatures and pressures of atmosphere, allowing it to navigate the thin air of Mars during different seasons and at different latitudes, particularly during challenging seasons like winter. Normally, the Martian atmosphere's pressure is between 6 and 10 millibars, just one one-hundredth of Earth's surface pressure, according to NASA. And during the cold season, roughly 25% of the atmosphere condenses on the polar caps, causing a further plunge in Red Planet pressure.

Before reaching Mars, MAGGIE must meet the major goal of its NIAC phase 1 study, which is to determine if the airplane could indeed work in the thin atmosphere of Mars. "We'll do more vehicle design and a feasibility study, and we will also do the science mission," Zha said, emphasizing that partners such as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will also be involved on the science side.

Next up, if the initial MAGGIE study goes well, will be inclusion in the two-year phase 2 of NIAC to deepen the engineering and science work. A range of investigations could fly on the mission, such as examining the strange magnetic field of Mars, or photographing surface features in high definition, depending on the priority.

Zha has been working on the idea behind MAGGIE for more than 20 years, mostly on the engineering side. He received several grants before this one, too, including NASA funding for a type of jet flow control, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Award for Aviation Transports.

He was glad to see Ingenuity take flight in the interim: "When we saw the Ingenuity helicopter flying, it was very, very exciting and inspiring." And he's looking forward to other Martian explorers taking to the skies as soon as feasible.

That could happen relatively quickly, pending ongoing troubles with funding for NASA's Mars Sample Return program. The current concept suggests two helicopter fetchers could ride along with the return mission in the 2030s that would bring caches back from the surface, which were collected by Perseverance.

Originally posted here:

Future Mars plane could help solve Red Planet methane mystery (exclusive) - Space.com

This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4135. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image

Earth planning date: Monday, March 25, 2024

Today, we planned two sols on Mars in a Touch and Go plan, where we do some early morning contact science and imaging followed by a drive to a new workspace on the first sol. As always, we will characterise the bedrock in our workspace. APXS and MAHLI will be deployed on the bulk bedrock at Sunrise Lakes right in front of the rover. ChemCam and Mastcam will capture rarer smooth grey looking layers at Keough Hot Springs further away from the rover. Mastcam will acquire more imagery of Sentinel Dome, a patch of gnarly looking bedrock that we previously imaged in the last plan.

However this plan (and many of the others around now) will probably be remembered for its imaging of the uGVR (upper Gediz Vallis ridge) rather than chemistry! The closer we get to the uGVR, the more jaw dropping the images are getting. Every morning, we open up the new image products and just drool over the beauty and detail. We have been talking about the GVR for so long, and we are definitely being rewarded now, despite that pesky sun blob getting in the way!

Today, as part of the uGVR campaign, Mastcam mosaics and ChemCam LD RMIs (Long Distance Remote Images) will be taken along the east wall of Fascination Turret, the part of the uGVR just ahead of us. We have already taken images of the wall, but as the position of the rover changes, our viewshed (or what we can see) changes. Getting images from many different angles and distances allows us to constrain any stratigraphy or layering that we see and (hopefully!) help us to understand the origin of the uGVR and the role it played in Gale crater.

We continue our environmental monitoring, with solar taus to characterize dust in the atmosphere (by Mastcam), some dust devil movies (Navcam) and our usual suite of REMS and DAN activities.

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Sols 4137-4138: Fascinated by Fascination Turret! NASA Mars Exploration - NASA Mars Exploration

Things are looking up for digging deep on Mars. Progress is palpable on how best to extract subsurface ice to generate drinkable water, rocket fuel and other useful resources on the Red Planet.

But boring down from the topside of Mars to reach available icy reservoirs is no slam dunk.

Tackling that challenge is the company Honeybee Robotics, which calls its approach the RedWater concept.

Related: Mars ice deposits could pave the way for human exploration

"RedWater has proven to be the right architecture for deep drilling on Mars," said Kris Zacny, vice president of the exploration technology group at Honeybee Robotics in Altadena, California.

Zacny said that RedWater can serve dual purposes, drilling for scientific exploration and water mining. "It's a win-win. We are at a position where this technology can be infused into [the] next Mars missions," he told Space.com.

Recent revelations about subsurface water ice on the Red Planet mesh well with RedWater.

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Over the years, data gathered by Mars orbiters has revealed that a third of the Martian surface contains ice near the surface, as well as more deeply buried ice sheets.

For example, earlier this year, observations by the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe suggested that layers of water ice stretch several miles below ground in some places on the planet.

Adding to the Mars ice story is this month's report at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference of a previously unseen volcano.

The new research speculates that, beneath that greatly eroded feature, glacier ice is likely still present, preserved near the surface in a relatively warm equatorial region on Mars.

Related: The search for water on Mars (photos)

Meanwhile, Honeybee technologists have recently completed end-to-end testing of a RedWater system in the company's cold chamber, said Joey Palmowski, a systems engineer at the company.

That work was undertaken through a NASA Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) grant, Palmowski told Space.com.

The RedWater system utilizes two proven terrestrial technologies, already put into action in support of polar operations in both Greenland and Antarctica. They are coiled tubing that unspools from the surface into underlying ice, and what's termed the Rodriguez Well, or "RodWell" concept.

RodWell is a method of melting a well in subsurface ice and pumping the liquid water to the surface.

To cut to the chase: Water ice in the form of debris-covered glaciers or ice sheets, perhaps hundreds of meters thick, has been detected and mapped in the mid-latitudes of Mars. That's a favorable spot for a future human expeditionary outpost.

Nathaniel Putzig is associate director and senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute's office in Lakewood, Colorado.

As co-lead of the Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM) on Mars project team, Putzig and colleagues are busy charting the location and depth of mid-latitude ice on Mars.

They're now wrapping up a third phase of the SWIM work, which explicitly aimed to help establish targeting priorities for the prospective International Mars Ice Mapper (I-MIM) mission concept.

A radar-carrying orbiter, the I-MIM is a projected NASA undertaking in partnership with the Italian space agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the Canadian Space Agency to develop an ice-scouting Mars orbiter.

I-MIM's key goal is to characterize the extent and volume of water ice in the mid- and low-latitude regions of the planet.

Putzig said he senses that NASA and the other international partners are anxious to pursue the I-MIM mission.

Nevertheless, there has been significant budget uncertainty regarding the endeavor, Putzig observed, certainly on the NASA side and perhaps with other agencies as well.

"This makes it difficult for the international partners to finalize their agreements and begin actively designing and building the mission hardware and instruments," Putzig noted.

There are uncertainties within present-day datasets, Putzig said, so more research and especially new orbital radar sounding capabilities are needed at Mars.

Once in hand, that information can definitively identify and characterize buried ice at landing-site scales for broad regions across the mid-latitudes of Mars, Putzig added.

"That said, one could in principle send landed missions to higher latitudes or to locations where fresh impacts have exposed ice and be assured of encountering ice in the subsurface using a drill without first acquiring that additional data," said Putzig. "However, even for such locations, the lateral and vertical extent and concentration of the ice will remain poorly constrained without new instruments."

Drilling even 1 meter (3.3 feet) into ice can be difficult, explained Isaac Smith, an associate professor at York University in Toronto, Ontario. He's also a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.

Such drilling on Earth requires loads of thermal or electrical power and a lot of human power. "It's especially hard when the ice is much colder than minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit), like all ice on Mars," Smith said.

That was found to be the case with the NASA Phoenix Mars lander mission in 2008, said Smith. The legged stationary spacecraft plopped down on the planet farther north than any previous mission, at a latitude equivalent to that of northern Alaska, then scooped up Martian soil and checked for and found water ice.

"That ice-cemented soil [at the Phoenix lander locale] is really hard to dig in, but anyone who lives in Canada during winter knows not to go digging in a backyard when the ground is frozen," Smith pointed out.

Carefully sampling any ice on Mars would yield a bonanza of science returns, Smith said.

"Polar ice can give you a detailed record of climate history; mid-latitude ice can become a resource for future space exploration and is the next frontier for seeking life on Mars," Smith advised. "Just as getting rock samples can provide clues to Mars' early history, ice will give us clues to Mars' recent history."

All good news, but reaching depths of tens of meters or more is a big task, Smith said. Doing so is very energy intensive, he said, and requires a lot of human intervention, even on Earth.

"For the foreseeable future, it will have to be done by robots on Mars, probably over long periods, requiring extra levels of robustness, which adds cost, and some power source that we don't have yet," Smith said. "It's feasible in the long term, and Honeybee Robotics is probably the company to build it."

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Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen? - Space.com