The Mars Express orbiter has discovered abundant water ice hidden beneath the Red Planet’s equator.
At the equator of Mars, scientists discovered an “ocean” of ice more than three kilometers thick. This was reported by Space.com, citing the results of the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission.
While this is not the first time evidence of ice has been found near the Red Planet’s equator, the new find is the largest amount of water ice.
According to scientists from the Smithsonian Institution in the US, the ice was found in an “ocean” whose depth is from 1.5 to 2.7 meters.
The deposits are thick, extending 3.7 km underground and covered by a crust of hardened ash and dry dust hundreds of meters thick. The ice is not a pure block, but heavily contaminated with dust.
According to scientists, the presence of water on the ground in the low and equatorial latitudes of the planet may indicate that the climate on Mars used to be completely different.
They also suggest that the presence of ice may be the result of a shift in the Red Planet’s axis.
According to scientists, in the future the location of ice near the equator can be explored during human missions.
It was previously reported that NASA’s Perseverance rover produced enough oxygen on the Red Planet to keep an astronaut alive for three hours.
Source: korrespondent
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