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TGO's first map of shallow subsurface water distribution on Mars

TGO's first map of shallow subsurface water distribution on Mars


Date: 10 April 2019
Satellite: Trace Gas Orbiter
Copyright: ESA; spacecraft: ATG/medialab; data: I. Mitrofanov et al. (2018)

The FREND neutron spectrometer on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has started mapping the distribution of hydrogen in the uppermost metre of the martian's surface. Hydrogen indicates the presence of water, being one of the constituents of the water molecule; it can also indicate water absorbed into the surface, or minerals that were formed in the presence of water. A map produced from 131 days data, from 3 May to 10 September 2018, is presented here, covering the globe from 70ºN to 70ºS.

Aside from the obviously water-rich permafrost of the polar regions, the new map provides more refined details of localised 'wet' and 'dry' regions. It also highlights water-rich materials in equatorial regions that may signify the presence of water-rich permafrost in present times, or the former locations of the planet's poles in the past.

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Last Update: 1 September 2019
29-Mar-2024 07:02 UT

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