Drone radar could help pinpoint exactly where to drill for water on Mars – scientists

Scientists claim that radar mounted on drones will help spacecraft accurately determine drilling locations to search for water on Mars, UNN reports, citing Space.com.

Details

A new study suggests that the search for usable water on Mars may soon require an unexpected tool: radar-equipped drones flying just above the surface to peer underground in ways that orbiting spacecraft cannot.

Researchers from the University of Arizona in the US have shown that drone-mounted ground-penetrating radar can map buried glaciers on Earth with surprising accuracy, offering a model for how similar methods could be used on Mars. The work focuses on glaciers in Alaska and Wyoming in the US, which are very similar to the debris-covered ice deposits found on the Red Planet, according to a university statement.

"If you want to make decisions about where to drill on Mars, you need to know if the ice you're trying to find is under a layer of debris one meter thick or 10 meters thick," said Roberto Aguilar, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, in a statement. "That's exactly the kind of information a drone-based system could provide."

Addendum

NASA's Perseverance rover discovered underground remnants of an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater using ground-penetrating radar. Scientists believe this is some of the oldest evidence of water's existence on Mars.