An orbiter has found "significant volumes of water" on Mars

 

 The ExoMars mission's Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), co-operated by the European Space Agency and Roscosmos, has found "significant volumes of water" in a system of canyons on the Red Planet, according to The Hill.

According to the publication, the device is equipped with a high-resolution epitermal neutron detector (FREND), which allows to determine the presence of hydrogen in the upper layer of Martian soil. "With TGO, we can look up to a meter below the dust layer and see what's really going on beneath the surface of Mars, and most importantly, find water-rich oases that can't be detected with older instruments." , explains in an official statement the head of the study Igor Mitrofanov. He said that "FREND has found an area with unusually large amounts of hydrogen in the colossal Mariner Valley canyon system: assuming that the observed hydrogen is bound to water molecules, up to 40 percent of the surface material in that area appears to be water."

 The article notes that the supposed water-rich zone is comparable in size to the Netherlands. Water may be chemically bound to other minerals in the soil, but scientists believe it most likely exists in the form of ice.

It is now known that there is water on Mars, but it is found mainly in the polar regions of the planet in the form of water ice. The Mariner Valley is located south of the equator, where water usually evaporates due to higher temperatures and pressures. According to scientists, in order to preserve the water in the canyon, there must be special conditions or the reserves must be replenished in some way, notes The Hill.