Summary:
Chennai: NASA in collaboration with three international partners is planning to launch a robotic Mars ice mapping mission which could help the agency identify potential science objectives for initial human missions to Mars. It could help identify abundant accessible ice for future candidate landing sites on the Red Planet. The agencies have agreed to establish a joint concept team to assess mission potential as well as partnership opportunities NASA said. The international Mars Ice Mapper mission would detect the location depth spatial extent and abundance of near-surface ice deposits which would enable the science community to interpret a more detailed volatile history of Mars. Mapping shallow water ice could also support supplemental high-value science objectives related to Martian climatology and geology NASA said..