We’ve known for a long time now that Mars once contained vast reservoirs of water and that even in its apparently dry state there was indications of water still hiding in various places. The search for water on Mars is a twofold with the two main objectives being finding environments suitable to life and secondly for potential use by future manned missions. Whilst we’ve succeed in confirming that yes, water once covered Mars and it still exists there today, we’re still finding out just how extensive the reservoirs are. As it turns out Mars may be flush with more water than we first expected and it’s been right under our noses this entire time.
The surface of Mars is a barren wasteland, covered in the same monotonous coloring that gives it that signature red tinge. The poles are the exception to this, harboring large water ice caps that get blanketed with a layer of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) in the winter. The reason for this is that due to the low pressure of Mars’ atmosphere exposed water anywhere else on the planet simply subliminates, turning straight from ice to water vapor before being swept away by Mars’ turbulent winds. However new research from the University of Copenhagen has revealed that water ice has managed to survive in other places around Mars and has done so in great quantities.
As it turns out many of the geological features we’ve observed on Mars that we’ve assumed to simply be mountains or hills are in fact dust covered glaciers which pepper the martian surface near the poles. This thick layer of dust has protected them from Mars’ atmosphere, preventing the ice from sublimation away. This dust also makes them appear like any other geological feature that you’d find on Mars’ surface instead of the towering walls of ice that we’re used to seeing here on Earth. The researchers were able to determine that these were water ice glaciers by using radar measurements from the numerous spacecraft we have orbiting the red planet and how they’re flowing under their protective dust blankets.
The amount of ice that these glaciers contain is quite staggering, enough that if it was spread out over the surface of Mars it would blanket it in a layer 1.1m thick. Such giant reservoirs provide huge opportunities for both exploration and scientific purposes and potentially paves a way for a sustainable human settlement. Whilst liquid water is always the most viable place to look for life we’ve found dozens of examples of microbial life living in some pretty harsh conditions and these glaciers might be a great place to start looking. That and water is one of the main components in several types of rocket fuel, something we’ll need if we want to do multiple return missions to Mars.
It’s incredible to note that our view of Mars has changed so drastically over the past couple decades, going from a barren wasteland that could never have housed life to a viable candidate, flush with water reserves everywhere. This latest discovery just goes to show that we can’t simply rely on visual data alone as even a well studied planet like Mars can still hide things from us and can do it in plain sight. The next step is to dig beneath Mars’ thick dust blanket to peer into these glaciers and, potentially, find something wriggling down there.
