Sección: CienciaTítulo: Sonda encuentra abundante agua helada en el polo sur de Marte - (en inglés)- Enlace 1 Texto del artículo:
Mars' South Pole Ice Deep and Wide
MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Dwayne Brown/Tabatha Thompson 202-358-1726/3895
NASA Headquarters, Washington
ESA Media Relations Office 33-1-53-69-7155
European Space Agency, Paris
News Release: 2007-030 March 15, 2007
Mars' South Pole Ice Deep and Wide
Pasadena, Calif. -- New measurements of Mars' south polar region indicate extensive frozen water.
The polar region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer
approximately 11 meters (36 feet) deep. A joint NASA-Italian Space Agency instrument on the
European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft provided these data.
This new estimate comes from mapping the thickness of the ice. The Mars Express orbiter's radar
instrument has made more than 300 virtual slices through layered deposits covering the pole to map
the ice. The radar sees through icy layers to the lower boundary, which is as deep as 3.7 kilometers
(2.3 miles) below the surface.
"The south polar layered deposits of Mars cover an area bigger than Texas. The amount of water they
contain has been estimated before, but never with the level of confidence this radar makes possible,"
said Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena Calif. Plaut is co-principal
investigator for the radar and lead author of a new report on these findings published in the March 15
online edition of the journal Science.
The instrument, named the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding
(MARSIS), also is mapping the thickness of similar layered deposits at the north pole of Mars.
"Our radar is doing its job extremely well," said Giovanni Picardi, a professor at the University of
Rome "La Sapienza," and principal investigator for the instrument.
"MARSIS is showing itself to be a very powerful tool to probe underneath the Martian surface, and
it's showing how our team's goals, such as probing the polar layered deposits, are being successfully
achieved," Picardi said. "Not only is MARSIS providing us with the first-ever views of Mars
subsurface at those depths, but the details we are seeing are truly amazing. We expect even greater
results when we have concluded an ongoing, sophisticated fine-tuning of our data processing
methods. These should enable us to understand even better the surface and subsurface composition."
Polar layered deposits hold most of the known water on modern Mars, though other areas of the
planet appear to have been very wet at times in the past. Understanding the history and fate of water
on Mars is a key to studying whether Mars has ever supported life, since all known life depends on
liquid water.
The polar layered deposits extend beyond and beneath a polar cap of bright-white frozen carbon
dioxide and water at Mars' south pole. Dust darkens many of the layers. However, the strength of the
echo that the radar receives from the rocky surface underneath the layered deposits suggests the
composition of the layered deposits is at least 90 percent frozen water. One area with an especially
bright reflection from the base of the deposits puzzles researchers. It resembles what a thin layer of
liquid water might look like to the radar instrument, but the conditions are so cold that the presence of
melted water is deemed highly unlikely.
Detecting the shape of the ground surface beneath the ice deposits provides information about even
deeper structures of Mars. "We didn't really know where the bottom of the deposit was," Plaut said.
"Now we can see that the crust has not been depressed by the weight of the ice as it would be on the
Earth. The crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer than the Earth's, probably because the interior of
Mars is so much colder."
The MARSIS instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter was developed
jointly by the Italian Space Agency and NASA, under the scientific supervision of the University of
Rome "La Sapienza," in partnership with JPL and the University of Iowa, Iowa City. JPL manages
NASA's roles in Mars Express for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: www.nasa.gov
Artículo de www.profesionalespcm.org insertado por: El administrador web - Fecha: 16/03/2007 - Modificar
Comparte el artículo en las REDES SOCIALES: 
Delicious | 
Meneame | 
Facebook | 
TWITTER | 
Technorati | 
Barrapunto
Próximamente disponible también para * Digg * Google Bookmarks* Wikio * Bitacoras.com * Reddit * * RSS * Technorati * Tuenti
Accedido o leido aproximadamente 1068 veces desde 20/01/2008
Sitio Web del Núcleo de Profesionales y Técnicos del Partido Comunista de Madrid PCM/PCE- http://www.profesionalespcm.org
Actualizado a 12/09/25
Los comentarios y colaboraciones son bienvenidos (comunistas_ARROBA_profesionalespcm_PUNTO_org): 
Envíanos
tu colaboración, o comentarios vía formulario.
¡¡AFÍLIATE
EL PARTIDO COMUNISTA DE MADRID - PCE!
BÚSQUEDAS
en este sitio web 
Agregador RSS de noticias y contenidos - Aquí OTRA VERSIÓN DEL AGREGADOR RSS XML
IMPRIMIR 
ESTA PAGINA (sólo si es imprescindible)
Secciones:
[11-M Terror y Manipulación] [15M, SUMAR, mareas, unidad popular, PAH] [Acta Moderna] [África] [Anarquismo] [Antiglobalización] [Antivirus, Seguridad Informática] [Archivo Sonoro, música y vídeo] [Argentina] [Bibliografía/Citas] [Brasil] [CC.OO.] [CGT] [Chile] [China, R.P.] [Ciencia] [Cine] [Colombia] [Congresos] [Contactos] [Convenios Colectivos] [Convocatorias] [Convocatorias defensa FERROCARRIL] [Correo recibido] [CORRUPCIÓN, puertas giratorias,impuestos, transparencia] [Cuba Socialista] [Documentos militante IU/ PCE] [Documentos, opinión, debate] [Ecologismo, Movilidad y Soberanía Alimentaria] [Economía] [El Problema Español] [Empleo (ofertas)] [Enlaces] [Esperanto] [Estados Unidos de América] [Europa] [FIRMAS DE APOYO A MANIFIESTOS] [Formación / Educación] [Foro/Lista de Correo] [Fotografías] [Huelga General] [Humor] [Infancia / Juventud] [Legislación] [Literatura y otras Artes] [Marxismo] [Memoria Histórica] [México] [Movimiento Obrero/Mundo del Trabajo] [Mujer / Feminismo] [Mundo Insurgente] [No Fumar /Derecho Fumadores Pasivos] [Organigrama] [Palestina] [Plan de Trabajo] [Prensa / Medios comunicación] [Profesionales y Comunistas] [República Española, La Tercera y Socialista] [Resoluciones] [Rusia, URSS, Centenario Revolución Soviética] [Sáhara Occidental] [Salud] [Sexualidad y mundo gay] [SIDA] [Software y Conocimiento Libre] [Venezuela Bolivariana] [Yugoslavia y la autogestión socialista]
Volver a la página principal de www.profesionalespcm.org
Código QR para dispositivos móviles:
Novedades
¡ 
PINCHA AQUÍ PARA LISTADO COMPLETO Y CRONOLÓGICO DE LAS
NOVEDADES
Recomendado reproducir material citando su procedencia.
Esta publicación es copyleft. Puede ser copiada sin ninguna restricción siempre que se mantenga esta nota. Apostamos por una Internet para todos y por el Software Libre
EL NÚCLEO DE PROFESIONALES Y TÉCNICOS DEL PCM SE IDENTIFICA Y HACE RESPONSABLE EXCLUSIVAMENTE DE LOS TEXTOS INCLUIDOS EN ESTE SITIO WEB, QUE FIRME COMO RESOLUCIONES O COMUNICADOS DE LA MISMA.
Todos los datos públicos de este sitio web están tomados de la Red o enviados por sus creadores, su único fin es divulgar la noticia, nunca apropiarse de textos y fotos,
Siempre publicamos la fuente cuando es conocida.
Blog de debate NEURONASROJAS.profesionalespcm.org
Muro en Facebook NEURONASROJAS de profesionalespcm.org
Canal en YouTube de profesionalespcm.org
Sitio desnuclearizado, campaña de Ecologistas en Acción
NO PAGUES LA CRISIS
NO A LA GUERRA: El Partido Comunista de España condena el ataque de la Federación Rusa a Ucrania-
NO A LA GUERRA
El humo ambiental del tabaco mata. No fumes en lugares comunes 
APÁRCALO PARA SIEMPRE