A northern lowland ice sheet on Mars?
Click for original image.
Cool image time. The picture to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on March 14, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Dubbed simply a “terrain sample,” this image was likely taken not as part of any specific research project, but to fill a gap in the camera’s schedule in order to maintain its temperature by taking regular images. When the camera team needs to do this, they try to find interesting locations not previously photographed. Sometimes the photos turn out somewhat boring. Most of the time however they capture something very intriguing.
In this case, the intriguing feature of this picture is its stippled surface that seems to overlay a relatively flat surface underneath, with some faint covered craters visible. On top are several more recent craters that suggest either the impact landed in very soft material, thus producing little ejecta and no crater rims or the craters are not craters but sinks, places where the ground is subsiding due to some underground process.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks this location, about 500 miles north of the peak of the giant shield volcano Elysium Mons.
This is the northern lowland plains north of 30 degrees latitude, where data and images from many orbiters has found extensive evidence of near-surface ice. Thus, in the cool image above we are likely looking at an ice sheet that covers everything, itself covered with a thin layer of dust in order to prevent it from sublimating entirely away in the thin atmosphere. The stippled look likely comes from some sublimation regardless, either removing some material on top, or underground causing the surface to sag. In either case, this process makes the surface of this ice sheet uneven.
The overview map itself provides a lot of information of this part of Mars that I have accumulated with time. The latitude lines delineate the icy regions from the dry equatorial regions. The black outlines mark the regions covered by the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest volcanic ash deposit on Mars and thought to be source of most of the planet’s dust. The white splotches indicate the largest quakes detected by the seismometer on InSight, with several centered on the long very distinct fissure cracks of Cerberus Fossae, marked by the red lines. The Athabasca flood lava is thought to be Mars’ most recent major volcanic event, less than ten million years old and covering an area about the size of Great Britain in only a few weeks at most.
This is also a region that has drawn a lot of landers/rovers from Earth. Five are shown on the map, with Perseverance just off the map’s left edge, on the western border of Isidis Basin. SpaceX has shown interesting in landing Starship in the region east of the Phelgra mountains, because it is relatively flat but also shows extensive evidence of the same kind of near-surface ice sheets.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Click for original image.
Cool image time. The picture to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on March 14, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Dubbed simply a “terrain sample,” this image was likely taken not as part of any specific research project, but to fill a gap in the camera’s schedule in order to maintain its temperature by taking regular images. When the camera team needs to do this, they try to find interesting locations not previously photographed. Sometimes the photos turn out somewhat boring. Most of the time however they capture something very intriguing.
In this case, the intriguing feature of this picture is its stippled surface that seems to overlay a relatively flat surface underneath, with some faint covered craters visible. On top are several more recent craters that suggest either the impact landed in very soft material, thus producing little ejecta and no crater rims or the craters are not craters but sinks, places where the ground is subsiding due to some underground process.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks this location, about 500 miles north of the peak of the giant shield volcano Elysium Mons.
This is the northern lowland plains north of 30 degrees latitude, where data and images from many orbiters has found extensive evidence of near-surface ice. Thus, in the cool image above we are likely looking at an ice sheet that covers everything, itself covered with a thin layer of dust in order to prevent it from sublimating entirely away in the thin atmosphere. The stippled look likely comes from some sublimation regardless, either removing some material on top, or underground causing the surface to sag. In either case, this process makes the surface of this ice sheet uneven.
The overview map itself provides a lot of information of this part of Mars that I have accumulated with time. The latitude lines delineate the icy regions from the dry equatorial regions. The black outlines mark the regions covered by the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest volcanic ash deposit on Mars and thought to be source of most of the planet’s dust. The white splotches indicate the largest quakes detected by the seismometer on InSight, with several centered on the long very distinct fissure cracks of Cerberus Fossae, marked by the red lines. The Athabasca flood lava is thought to be Mars’ most recent major volcanic event, less than ten million years old and covering an area about the size of Great Britain in only a few weeks at most.
This is also a region that has drawn a lot of landers/rovers from Earth. Five are shown on the map, with Perseverance just off the map’s left edge, on the western border of Isidis Basin. SpaceX has shown interesting in landing Starship in the region east of the Phelgra mountains, because it is relatively flat but also shows extensive evidence of the same kind of near-surface ice sheets.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
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