Faculty of Science and Technology findings by a group led by Professor Seishin Faculty of Science and Technology of Faculty of Science and Technology have been published in the *Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets*
Release Date:
Using terrain found in Earth's permafrost regions, We’ve identified locations on Mars where ice is abundant underground!
~Proposed as a landing site for future crewed missions to Mars~
A research group Faculty of Science and Technology has, for the first time in the world, succeeded in precisely identifying locations in Mars’ mid-latitudes where subsurface ice is abundant by analyzing satellite imagery obtained from a Mars orbiter.
In this study, we used satellite imagery captured by a Mars orbiter to investigate the distribution of periglacial landforms (Note 2) found in Earth’s permafrost zones (Note 1), and accurately identified locations in Mars’ mid-latitudes where ice is abundant in the shallow subsurface.
The shallow subsurface ice on Mars could be used as a water resource during NASA’s planned crewed Mars landing mission in the 2040s; we have therefore proposed the locations where this subsurface ice is abundant—as identified in this study—as potential landing sites for future crewed Mars missions.
The findings of this study are expected to serve as important data in the selection of potential landing sites for JAXA’s Mars lander, which is scheduled for the 2030s.
*1 Permafrost: Soil in which the temperature remains at or below 0°C for at least two consecutive years. It contains frozen water both at the surface and underground, and because ice is present, periglacial landforms tend to develop easily. It is found in cold regions such as Alaska, Canada, and Siberia.
*2 Periglacial landforms: Special landforms created by the presence of ice beneath the surface, commonly found in permafrost regions. Earth-like landforms have also been discovered in Mars’ mid-latitudes, and these are used as indicators suggesting the presence of subsurface ice.
[PaperInformation]
Journal Title: Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Paper Title: The Periglacial Landforms and Estimated Subsurface Ice Distribution in the Northern Mid-Latitudes of Mars
Authors: Takaki Sako, Hitoshi Hasegawa* (corresponding author), Trishit Ruj, Goro Komatsu, Yasuhito Sekine