The distribution of water and ice in the solar system.

Throughout the modern era of robotic exploration of the solar system, the single, most defining strategy has been to "follow the water". Water is essential for life as we know it, and it is the most coveted and scarce in-situ resource for future human expansion into space, including the planning of settlements on the Moon and on Mars. Although Mars and the Moon are super-dry deserts, water and ices are abundant beyond the asteroid belt. In this talk we will explore the solar system to understand how water and ice-rich planetary bodies have formed. We will also look at the different sets of conditions of formation and evolution of Earth and Mars, to explain why the surface of the Earth is "wet" and that of Mars is not. In the quest to find water on Mars, the team working with the ground penetrating radar sounder MARSIS (on board Mars Express) detected signals of liquid water bodies at the base of the south polar cap. How did they form? Are there liquid bodies of water elsewhere? We don't know the answers to these questions yet, but the possibilities are fascinating. In this talk we will discuss some of the working hypotheses and their implications.

Ponente: GRAZIELLA CAPRARELLI

Is a geoscientist whose principal area of research is Mars. She obtained her PhD in Earth Sciences from Sapienza University in Rome (Italy), subsequently holding postdoctoral fellowships at the Geological Survey of Japan in Tsukuba (Japan), the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Tokyo, NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston (USA), and a Visiting Scientist fellowship with the International Research School of Planetary Sciences in Pescara (Italy). As a Senior Lecturer, she taught solid Earth and comparative planetology courses at the University of Technology Sydney (Australia). Later, she was the inaugural Associate Professor of Space Science at the University of South Australia, until 2018. She is currently Faculty adjunct with the International Space University in Strasbourg (France), and Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Southern Queensland (Australia). Professor Caprarelli has a long and distinguished record of service to the professional community, and is currently Chair of the American Geophysical Union Hess Medal Committee, and Editor in Chief of the journal Earth and Space Science. For her outstanding service to the discipline of geoscience, she was elected a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists in 2018. Professor Caprarelli's best known scientific work is the discovery of liquid water at the base of the south polar cap of Mars, which led to her award of the 2021 Australian Space Scientist of the Year title.

Видео The distribution of water and ice in the solar system. канала Planetario de Madrid oficial