Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system is hiding water

[gry60]

Scientists Just Found a 'Significant' Volume of Water Inside Mars' Grand Canyon

Scientists with the European Space Agency have just discovered 'significant' volumes of water in its grand canyon system! This is a major find.

interestingengineering.com

The newly discovered volume of water is hiding under the surface of Mars, and was detected by the Trace Gas Orbiter, a mission in its first stage under the guidance of the ESA-Roscosmos project dubbed ExoMars. Signs of water were picked up by the orbiter's Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (FREND) instrument, which is designed to survey the Red Planet's landscape and map the presence and concentration of hydrogen hiding in Mars' soil. It works like this: while high-energy cosmic rays plunge into the surface, the soil emits neutrons. And wet soil emits fewer neutrons than dry soil, which enables scientists to analyze and assess the water content of soil, hidden beneath its ancient surface. "FREND revealed an area with an unusually large amount of hydrogen in the colossal Valles Marineris canyon system: assuming the hydrogen we see is bound into water molecules, as much as 40% of the near-surface material in this region appears to be water," said Igor Mitrofanov, the Russian Academy of Science's lead investigator of the Space Research Institute, in the ESA press release.

"The reservoir is large, not too deep below ground, & could be easily exploitable for future explorers," read a tweet on the announcement from ExoMars. That sounds basically great! But it's too soon for Musk to pack up his bags and fly to the site, since much work is left to be done. A study accompanying the announcement, published in the journal Icarus, shows that neutron detection doesn't distinguish between ice and water molecules. This means geochemists need to enter the scientific fray to reveal more details. But several features of the canyon, including its topology, have led the researchers to speculate that the water is probably in solid form (ice). But it could also be a mixture of solid and liquid.

"We found a central part of Valles Marineris to be packed full of water — far more water than we expected," said Alexey Malakhov, co-author of the study, in the ESA release. "This is very much like Earth's permafrost regions, where water ice permanently persists under dry soil because of the constant low temperatures." So while we don't yet know the specific form of water is lying under Mars' vast system of canyons, the first human mission to Mars may consider exploring this area a major priority.

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

 

[Platinum State]

Good. Water's gonna be needed to colonize

 

[TURBO UNO]

Right now

But in a couple years....

 

[htg designs]

There's a reason why the water is 'hiding'.

 

[WASPS ANDD ASPS]

Hiding from dumb *** Earthlings

 

[DB Cooper]

Probably where the aliens stash their water.

 

[waitwut]

I’m tryna drink some mars water idk about y’all

 

[QU!K]

Right now

But in a couple years....

 

[TURBO UNO]

Us older heads remember this scene well....