By Darin

發(fā)表在期刊《科學》上的一項研究中，科學家們證實，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)火星上存在著豐富的水資源。這些水資源或可用于人類未來的火星探索使命。

Despite the fact that Mars has an atmosphere just 1 percent as dense as Earth’s,the surface of the Red Planet still has to deal with plenty of weathering and erosion.In 2008,researchers even captured a full-scale avalanche on Mars as it plunged down a 2,300-foot slope into a valley.These types of geological events often expose the structures beneath the martian surface,revealing layers of rock,dry ice and even water ice.

In a study published Thursday in the journal Science,researchers using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter(MRO)investigated eight steep and eroded slopes at various locations across Mars.At each of these locations,they found thick shelves of relatively pure water ice located as little as 3.3 feet below the planet’s surface.Furthermore,some of these massive ice deposits were found to be more than 330 feet thick.

While scientists have observed water ice on the surface of the Red Planet many times before,researchers rarely get a chance to learn this much about its layering,thickness,purity and prevalence.

The discovery of these large reservoirs of pure water ice adds yet another piece of evidence supporting the increasingly held theory that water ice not only exists on Mars,but also is surprisingly common.Although the ice could obviously be used as a source of water for future manned missions to Mars,scientists have a long way to go before then.

盡管火星的大氣密度僅為地球的1%，但是這里仍然存在很多風化作用和侵蝕。2008年，研究人員們甚至捕捉到了火星上的一次全面雪崩，雪沿斜坡墜入了一個23,00英尺深的山谷。此類地質(zhì)事件往往會暴露火星表面下的構(gòu)造，揭開巖石層、干冰層，乃至水凍冰塊層的面紗。

在于周四發(fā)表在期刊《科學》上的一項研究中，研究人員們使用火星勘測軌道飛行器調(diào)查了火星不同地點八個陡峭、且被侵蝕的斜坡。在其中的每個地點，他們在火星表面下3.3英尺處發(fā)現(xiàn)了較純的水凍冰塊。此外，他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些330多英尺厚的大冰塊。

雖然科學家們曾經(jīng)多次發(fā)現(xiàn)火星表面存在水凍冰塊，但是研究人員們幾乎沒有機會深入了解其分層、厚度、純度和廣泛性。

這些大型純水凍冰塊的發(fā)現(xiàn)進一步證明，水凍冰塊不僅存在于火星上，而是出奇地普遍。雖然冰塊明顯可用作人類未來火星使命的水源，但是科學家們?nèi)杂泻荛L一段路要走。