Belts Of Glaciers On Mars:
Mars has distinct polar ice caps, but Mars also has belts of glaciers at its central latitudes in both the southern and northern hemispheres. A thick layer of dust covers the glaciers, so they appear as surface of the ground, but radar measurements show that underneath the dust there are glaciers composed of frozen water. New studies have now calculated the size of the glaciers and thus the amount of water in the glaciers. It is the equivalent of all of Mars being covered by more than one metre of ice. The results are published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Several satellites orbit Mars and on satellite images, researchers have been able to observe the shape of glaciers just below the surface. For a long time scientists did not know if the ice was made of frozen water (H2O) or of carbon dioxide (CO2) or whether it was mud. Using radar measurements from the NASA satellite, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers have been able to determine that it is water ice. But how thick is the ice and do the glaciers resemble glaciers on Earth? A group of researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have now calculated this using radar observations combined with ice flow modelling.
Gigantic Ice Slab Found on Mars:
This ice may be the result of snowfall tens of millions of years ago on Mars, scientists added.
Mars is now dry and cold, but lots of evidence suggests that rivers, lakes and seas once covered the planet. Scientists have discovered life virtually wherever there is liquid water on Earth, leading some researchers to believe that life might have evolved on Mars when it was wet, and that life could be there even now, hidden in subterranean aquifers.
[The Search for Life on Mars.]
NASA Build Igloos On Mars Idea For Robots:
This is the Mars Ice House, a sloping, triangular structure that would be autonomously built by robots using additive manufacturing techniques.
WELL BEFORE NASA announced that liquid water exists on Mars, a team of designers from Clouds Architecture Officeand Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch) toiled to figure out how we could use ice—so, in essence, water—as shelter on the Red Planet. It’s a simple idea, really. We’ve known for some time that Mars is home to large quantities of water ice, and that this ice could serve as a locally sourced building material. Ice is also translucent, and all homes need a little natural light.
The team of eight ultimately came up with the Mars Ice House, a sloping, triangular structure that would be autonomously built by robots using additive manufacturing techniques. For their idea, NASA recently awarded them first place in a design competition for 3-D printed habitats made for future human inhabitants of Mars.
NASA Selects 3D Printed Habitats Design Winner:
Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER):
NASA‘s Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER) is an ongoing robotic space mission involving two rovers, Spirit[1] andOpportunity,[2] exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the sending of the two rovers—MER-A Spirit and MER-BOpportunity—to explore the Martian surface and geology.
The mission’s scientific objective was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. The mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, which includes three previous successful landers: the two Viking program landers in 1976 and Mars Pathfinder probe in 1997.[3]
