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Multiple subglacial water bodies below the south pole of Mars unveiled by new MARSIS data
Rossi, Angelo Pio; Orosei, Roberto; Cartacci, Marco +10 more
The detection of liquid water by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) at the base of the south polar layered deposits in Ultimi Scopuli has reinvigorated the debate about the origin and stability of liquid water under present-day Martian conditions. To establish the extent of subglacial water in this region, we a…
Oxia Planum: The Landing Site for the ExoMars "Rosalind Franklin" Rover Mission: Geological Context and Prelanding Interpretation
Pan, Lu; Quantin-Nataf, Cathy; Fawdon, Peter +18 more
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos ExoMars mission will launch the "Rosalind Franklin" rover in 2022 for a landing on Mars in <uri xlink:href="http://2023.The">2023.The</uri> goals of the mission are to search for signs of past and present life on Mars, investigate the water/geochemical environment as a function of depth in …
The current weather and climate of Mars: 12 years of atmospheric monitoring by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer on Mars Express
Aoki, Shohei; Formisano, V.; Giuranna, Marco +5 more
We used thermal-infrared spectra returned by the Mars Express Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS/MEx) to retrieve atmospheric temperature profiles, surface temperatures, and column-integrated optical depths of dust and water ice. More than 2,500,000 spectra were processed to build this new atmospheric dataset, covering the full range of season, l…
Morphological and Spectral Diversity of the Clay-Bearing Unit at the ExoMars Landing Site Oxia Planum
Pan, Lu; Quantin-Nataf, Cathy; Cremonese, Gabriele +10 more
The European Space Agency and Roscosmos' ExoMars rover mission, which is planned to land in the Oxia Planum region, will be dedicated to exobiology studies at the surface and subsurface of Mars. Oxia Planum is a clay-bearing site that has preserved evidence of long-term interaction with water during the Noachian era. Fe/Mg-rich phyllosilicates hav…
Multi-Annual Monitoring of the Water Vapor Vertical Distribution on Mars by SPICAM on Mars Express
Montmessin, Franck; Trokhimovskiy, Alexander; Bertaux, Jean-Loup +3 more
The distribution of water vapor with altitude has long remained a missing piece of the observational data set of water vapor on Mars. In this study, we present the first multi-annual survey of water vapor profile covering the altitude range from 0 to 100 km based on the SPICAM/Mars Express occultation measurements. During the aphelion season, wate…
The Tharsis mantle source of depleted shergottites revealed by 90 million impact craters
Baratoux, D.; Towner, M. C.; Lagain, A. +8 more
The only martian rock samples on Earth are meteorites ejected from the surface of Mars by asteroid impacts. The locations and geological contexts of the launch sites are currently unknown. Determining the impact locations is essential to unravel the relations between the evolution of the martian interior and its surface. Here we adapt a Crater Det…
CME Magnetic Structure and IMF Preconditioning Affecting SEP Transport
Lowrance, Patrick J.; Möstl, Christian; Guo, Jingnan +15 more
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs) are two phenomena that can cause severe space weather effects throughout the heliosphere. The evolution of CMEs, especially in terms of their magnetic structure, and the configuration of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) that influences the transport of SEPs are currently are…
Strong MARSIS Radar Reflections From the Base of Martian South Polar Cap May Be Due to Conductive Ice or Minerals
Putzig, N. E.; Bierson, C. J.; Tulaczyk, S. +1 more
Recent results from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument have been interpreted as evidence of subsurface brine pooled beneath 1.3 km-thick South Polar Layered Deposit (SPLD). This interpretation is based on the assumption that the regionally high strength of MARSIS radar reflections from the base of th…
Anoxic chemical weathering under a reducing greenhouse on early Mars
Liu, J.; Xiao, L.; Michalski, J. R. +3 more
Reduced greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4) and hydrogen (H2) might be the only tenable solution to explain warming of the ancient Martian climate, but direct geological evidence that a reduced atmosphere actually existed on Mars has been lacking. Here we report widespread, strong Fe loss in chemically weathered bedrock se…
Relationship Between the Ozone and Water Vapor Columns on Mars as Observed by SPICAM and Calculated by a Global Climate Model
Forget, F.; Montmessin, F.; Fedorova, A. +10 more
Ozone (O3) in the atmosphere of Mars is produced following the photolysis of CO2 and is readily destroyed by the hydrogen radicals (HOx) released by the photolysis and oxidation of water vapor. As a result, an anti correlation between ozone and water vapor is expected. We describe here the O3 H2