NASA’s Icebite Prepares for Mission to Mars in Antarctica
17.11.2009 - Land & Geology, Ice & Snow, Flora & Fauna, Antarctic
Scientists involved in NASA's IceBite project are headed for University Valley in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys to test a series ofice-penetrating drills to determine which one would be suited for a future life-finding mission in the Martian polar north. This region of the Red Planet is of particular interest to scientists since it might have provided a suitable environment for life millions of years ago,when Mars' orbital tilt allowed more sunlight to fall on the Martian Arctic, making it possible for liquid water - an essential ingredient for life - to exist.
This type of mission requires trial runs at a place on Earth similar to the Martian Far North. Back in 2008, NASA's Phoenix lander found a layer of dry permafrost atop a layer of ice in the Martian Arctic. The only place on Earth where dry permafrost exists atop a layer of ice is in the upper elevations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in a place called University Valley.
IceBite team members will spend three austral summers in Antarctica, starting this year with the scouting of potential drilling areas. The team will also sample the microorganisms living in the ice, the dry permafrost and in the boundary where the two meet.
The permafrost atop the glacier in University Valley runs so deep that the ice below never warms above -10°C, which is a similar situation to the ice on Mars. Bacteria have already been found living in ice at temperatures below -10°C; however scientists still don't know whether they are able to grow and reproduce in the dry soil or simply remain dormant.
