Abstract
Martian debris-covered glaciers (DCGs) contain large quantities of water ice buried under a protective layer of rock and dust, as revealed by observations from the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) sounder on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. However, internal structure and debris layer thickness which are of interest for paleoclimate studies and in-situ resource exploration, respectively, are not obtainable with this instrument and would be challenging for any orbital platform. On Earth, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been employed over terrestrial analogs to understand the basic relationships between the composition, structure, flow kinematics, and morphology of similar landforms. Traditional surface-based GPR involves slow, manual operations with bulky equipment that renders it less suitable than robotic platforms for future Mars exploration missions. To address this challenge, we tested a drone-based GPR over terrestrial DCGs, yielding results that are promising for surveying the interior of Mars-analog glaciers with airborne platforms.
Original language | English (US) |
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Journal | Proceedings of the Symposium on the Application of Geophyics to Engineering and Environmental Problems, SAGEEP |
Volume | 2024-March |
State | Published - 2024 |
Event | 36th Symposium on the Application of Geophyics to Engineering and Environmental Problems, SAGEEP 2024 - Tucson, United States Duration: Mar 24 2024 → Mar 28 2024 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geophysics
- Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
- Environmental Engineering