Ice Exposed in New Craters
Impressive research, reported in the journal Science in September 2009, has showed that some new craters on Mars show exposed, pure, water ice. After a time, the ice disappears, evaporating into the atmosphere. The ice is only a few feet deep. The ice was confirmed with the Compact Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM)] on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The ice was found in a total of 5 locations. Three of the locations are in the Cebrenia quadrangle. These locations are 55°34′N 150°37′E / 55.57°N 150.62°E / 55.57; 150.62, 43°17′N 176°54′E / 43.28°N 176.9°E / 43.28; 176.9 and 45°00′N 164°30′E / 45°N 164.5°E / 45; 164.5. This discovery proves that future colonists on Mars will be able to obtain water from a wide variety of locations. The ice can be dug up, melted, then taken apart to provide fresh oxygen and hydrogen for rocket fuel. Hydrogen is the powerful fuel used by the space shuttle main engines
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Bright part is water ice that has been exposed by impact. The ice was identified using CRISM on the MRO.
Read more about this topic: Cebrenia Quadrangle
Famous quotes containing the words ice, exposed and/or craters:
“I also heard the whooping of the ice in the pond, my great bed-fellow in that part of Concord, as if it were restless in its bed and would fain turn over, were troubled with flatulency and bad dreams; or I was waked by the cracking of the ground by the frost, as if some one had driven a team against my door, and in the morning would find a crack in the earth a quarter of a mile long and a third of an inch wide.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the most desirable conditions, the child learns to manage anxiety by being exposed to just the right amounts of it, not much more and not much less. This optimal amount of anxiety varies with the child’s age and temperament. It may also vary with cultural values.... There is no mathematical formula for calculating exact amounts of optimal anxiety. This is why child rearing is an art and not a science.”
—Alicia F. Lieberman (20th century)
“Listen.
We must all stop dying in the little ways,
in the craters of hate,
in the potholes of indifference....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)