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Radar in Mars Orbit Maps North Polar Deposits

Dec. 19, 2011

The upper panel is a radargram profile from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), showing data from the subsurface of Mars in the ice-rich north polar plateau of Mars.› Full image and caption

Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Rome/ASI/GSFC

An American-Italian radar instrument orbiting Mars has mapped the three-dimensional structure of layers beneath the surface in the planet's north polar region.

A ground-penetrating radar instrument that NASA helped develop for the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter has completed a five-month campaign of observing subsurface layering in the north polar ice cap of Mars. The campaign is a highlight of the orbiter's extended mission. The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) made observations from altitudes as low as about 233 miles (375 kilometers) during several hundred passes over the pole. The MARSIS team is analyzing the data and plans to publish findings. For more information, see
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=49771 .

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