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DN-002 M: Surface and subsurface water content at surface exploration sites

How much near-surface water (ice and hydrated minerals) there is at varied Mars sites, how it varies with depth and place, and how it changes with the seasons. The gap is framed around landing first: water "could vaporize during a landing event", enhancing erosion and threatening lander stability, with resource use second and needing further prospecting. Existing data is orbital water maps, rover detections and the Phoenix lander's direct sampling. No source ties it to the Moon Base (Data gaps spreadsheet, DN-002 M).

Quotations below are from row DN-002 M of the data gaps spreadsheet. ADD Rev C's Appendix E prints the same record as a table, and it matches the row field for field (ADD Rev C, p. 285).

Description

"Characterize the spatial and depth variability of near-surface water content at geographically diverse sites – including seasonal variations to enable reliable predictions of site-specific conditions. Water sources could include ice deposits and hydrated minerals."

Need driver and data type

  • Need driver: Mars Surface Natural Environment Characterization
  • Data type: In Situ Measurement

Target measurement parameters

"Measure the relative concentration and spatial extent of water in the form of hydrated minerals and subsurface ice at the surface and near-surface of geographically diverse sites. Measure potential seasonal variation in water concentrations at potential surface exploration sites."

Current state of data

"Observations of water ice and frost by landers at high latitudes. Water maps based on combining available Mars orbital instrument datasets (Mars Odyssey neutron and gamma ray spectroscopy, as well as thermal emission imaging data; Mars Express visible and infrared imaging spectrometer data; and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shallow radar, climate sounder, imaging spectrometer, and context and high-resolution imaging data). Rover-mounted instruments have detected hydrated minerals at select sites. The Phoenix lander has directly measured and sampled Martian ice."

Impact if data is unavailable

"Hydrated minerals or ice could vaporize during a landing event, potentially enhancing surface erosive effects. Potentially detrimental impacts to lander stability."

Benefits if data is available

"Increased confidence in landing, plume-surface interaction, and trafficability analyses, which may increase flexibility and allow more areas and terrain to be considered for mission operations. Concentrations of hydrated material on the surface or near-subsurface may indicate the presence of usable in-situ resources. Further resource exploration activities would be needed to determine if available water concentrations are sufficient to constitute a usable reserve."

Traceability

  • Objectives: TH-06 M, TH-07 M (codes as printed; the sheet gives no titles)
  • Segment: Humans to Mars (H2M): "The M2M segment during which the data is needed, but not necessarily when it is collected" (Data gaps spreadsheet, Key sheet).

Priority

None. The spreadsheet has no priority field. The white paper calls the Rev C list "not a comprehensive or prioritized representation of NASA's data needs" (ACR25 data-gaps white paper, p. 4).

Moon Base relevance

Not established by the sources so far. The Users Guide's data-gap mapping covers lunar gaps only (Users Guide, pp. 12–13).

Sources

Data gaps spreadsheet, DN-002 M · ACR25 data-gaps white paper, p. 4 · Users Guide, pp. 12–13 · ADD Rev C, p. 285