NASA Discovered Easy To Access Water Ice On Mars. Heres Why That Matters – Forbes

This map shows underground water ice on Mars. Cool colors represent less than one foot below the ... [+] surface; warm colors are over two feet deep. The black zones on the map represent areas where a landing spacecraft would encounter dust. The outlined box represents an ideal region to send astronauts to have easy access to ice.The map was created by combining data from multiple NASA orbiters, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its Mars Climate Sounder instrument; Mars Odyssey and its Thermal Emission Imaging System; and the Mars Global Surveyor.

NASA is constantly studying the solar system, trying to better understand our cosmic neighbors.Some discoveries have been of interest to scientists and academics, however a recent announcement has more practical implications.

Humanity is a curious species.We have explored the lands of the globe, climbed high peaks, and dived to the bottom of the ocean. There is no place on Earth that intrepid adventurers have not passed through, if only for a little while.But space is different.Space, as the saying goes, is the final frontier.Only twelve men have landed on a different celestial body (i.e. the moon) and another ten flew over it, without setting their feet on the surface.While exciting, some of us have dreamed of more.

Those of us brought up on adventurous television shows and movies such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Lost in Space, and others, never imagined that fifty years after the Apollo program that we wouldnt have at least explored Mars by now.But theres a reason for that, and that reason is that if we ever sent people to Mars, wed have to bring everything and I mean everything.Thats different from the European explorers venturing west in the 15th century.Those explorers could count on finding things like animals to hunt, wood, air, and water.Mars has none of those things.

Well, thats not entirely true.Mars has water.But can astronauts find it and use it?The recent announcement by NASA suggests that maybe they can.

Scientists have long known that there is water in the form of underground ice at the Martian poles.But the poles are a harsh environment a cold place on a planet where the summer daytime temperature at the equator can approach a balmy 70 F, but the night time temperatures in the same location and on the same day can swing to -100 F.Winter temperatures on the Martian poles can get as low as -195 F.So, settling on the Martian poles to get at water isnt in the cards.

Th white area superimposed on the Martian surface shows the location of easily available water ice ... [+] under the surface.

After considering many reasons, like the smoothness of the topography, the elevation, thickness of atmosphere, and the firmness of the ground, NASA scientists prefer a possible colonization site closer to the equatorial regions, but north of the equator.But only if there is water.

So how do you find water if its underground and you cant land?You use what you know of the thermal properties of both rock and water and you have orbital satellites look downward to see the signal of subterranean water.

Mars Odyssey (Mars, 2001-), Mars Odyssey was put into orbit around Mars in 2001 to study its geology ... [+] and environment; it has detected large amounts of frozen water just below the surface. (Photo by: QAI Publishing/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting Mars.It was launched in 2001 and it is still functioning holding the record for the longest operational instrument to study our planetary neighbour.Using the Mars Climate Sounder and Thermal Emission Imaging Systems, NASA scientists studied the surface.Using a simple two-component model where the surface materials near the Martian surface are a combination of rock and ice, NASA scientists identified large swaths of the planet where not only is water found beneath the surface of the planet, it is found at depths of mere inches.The areas with water are quite large and are located at a latitude of 35N essentially equivalent to the southern border of Tennessee in the U.S, if this were on Earth.A similar area was found in the southern hemisphere at latitudes somewhat closer to the south pole.

NASA scientists have released a map of locations where ice is found and its depth below the surface.Using this map and other considerations involving surface quality, they have suggested that an optimum place for a possible future colony is a region called Arcadia Planitia.

Finding easily available water is a crucial step if humanity ever wants to colonize Mars.The human body is 60 percent water and astronauts on the International Space Station can use about three gallons per day much less than the 35 gallons per day used by the average American. And when colonists begin to think about industrial production, the needs will go up fast.Elon Musks company SpaceX has estimated a cost of about $45,000 per kilogram to bring something from Earth to Mars.Since a gallon of water weighs 3.8 kilograms, the cost of bringing a gallon of water to Mars could be about $171,000.This is the reason that finding a source of Martian water is so important.

Martian exploration remains a dream for the future, but it is a dream that is shared by a great many people.Todays announcement may be a step forward to making that dream a reality.

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NASA Discovered Easy To Access Water Ice On Mars. Heres Why That Matters - Forbes