Water ice found on Mars

[Craiglxviii]

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Water Ice Has Officially Been Found On Mars:

This image, captured by ESA’s Mars Express, showcases the Korolev crater, an 82-kilometer-wide structure located in the northern lowlands of Mars.

Korolev crater on Mars resembles a vast field of snow but is actually filled with ice. The crater, located in Mars’ northern lowlands near the Olympia Undae dune fields, spans 82 kilometers and has a central ice mound up to 1.8 kilometers thick that remains year-round due to a unique “cold trap” phenomenon.

This occurs because the crater’s floor, two kilometers deep, cools the air above the ice, creating a stable layer of cold air that prevents the ice from melting. This effect is heightened as air is a poor heat conductor, keeping the crater permanently icy.

The images, captured by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), mark 15 years since the spacecraft began its mission, having entered Mars’ orbit on 25 December 2003.

Korolev crater is named after Sergei Korolev, a pioneer of Soviet space technology, known for his work on the Sputnik and Vostok programs, as well as early interplanetary missions.

Other missions, such as ESA’s ExoMars program, have also shown interest in this region to explore the possibility of past life on Mars. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, operating since April 2018, captured a detailed image of the crater’s northern rim, highlighting its unique icy landscape.

IMAGE CREDIT: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

[Micael]

Excellent! One step closer to martian habitation. And potentially finding some microbial life there.

[Johnnie Lyle]

Excellent! One step closer to martian habitation. And potentially finding some microbial life there.

Yay to colonization, no to finding living life.

We’re not ready for that kind of complication.

[Micael]

Excellent! One step closer to martian habitation. And potentially finding some microbial life there.

Yay to colonization, no to finding living life.

We’re not ready for that kind of complication.

It’d be a complication, that’s for sure.

[Nathan45]

Given that we have bacteria like Deinococcus radiodurans that can survive in a vacuum on the ISS I'd guess that if Mars doesn't have single celled life now, it will be colonized by earth bacteria as soon as we arrive in force.

[Rocket J Squrriel]

Excellent! One step closer to martian habitation. And potentially finding some microbial life there.

I'd rather go to Ceres and Titan.

[Craiglxviii]

Excellent! One step closer to martian habitation. And potentially finding some microbial life there.

I'd rather go to Ceres and Titan.

“To Ganymede and Titan, yes sir I’ve been around…”

Lister, Dave