Glaciares de hielo bajo escombros de rocas en Marte

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/nov/HQ_08-304_MRO_BuriedGlaciers.html

NASA Spacecraft Detects Buried Glaciers on Mars

PASADENA, Calif.-- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed vast Martian glaciers of water ice under protective blankets of rocky debris at much lower latitudes than any ice previously identified on the Red Planet.
Scientists analyzed data from the spacecraft's ground-penetrating radar and report in the Nov. 21 issue of the journal Science that buried glaciers extend for dozens of miles from the edges of mountains or cliffs. A layer of rocky debris blanketing the ice may have preserved the underground glaciers as remnants from an ice sheet that covered middle latitudes during a past ice age. This discovery is similar to massive ice glaciers that have been detected under rocky coverings in Antarctica.
"Altogether, these glaciers almost certainly represent the largest reservoir of water ice on Mars that is not in the polar caps," said John W. Holt of the University of Texas at Austin, who is lead author of the report. "Just one of the features we examined is three times larger than the city of Los Angeles and up to half a mile thick. And there are many more. In addition to their scientific value, they could be a source of water to support future exploration of Mars."…

Traducción: 

El Mars Reconocimiento Orbiter de la NASA descubrió con sus instrumentos de radar que bajo las rocas y los escombros se esconden enormes depósitos de hielo de cientos o miles de metros de espesor.

Se estima que tiene tres veces el tamaño de la ciudad de Los Ángeles y casi mil metros de profundidad en un solo lugar estudiado. Cada vez se hacen más descubrimientos, y cada uno de ellos es tan importante para la posibilidad de albergar vida en nuestro planeta hermano.

Yo digo que la vida tiene muchas formas. Ya sea que se mueva o no, que piense o no, ¡la vida en sus formas inimaginables está ahí!

Saludos Josef Bauer