火星探测计划
洞穴
天体生物学
地质学
地理
考古
生物
出处
期刊:Journal of Cave and Karst Studies
[National Speleological Society]
日期:2012-04-30
卷期号:74 (1): 33-47
被引量:111
摘要
This paper presents newly discovered candidate cave entrances into Martian near-surface lava tubes, volcano-tectonic fracture systems, and pit craters and describes their characteristics and exploration possibilities.These candidates are all collapse features that occur either intermittently along laterally continuous trench-like depressions or in the floors of sheer-walled atypical pit craters.As viewed from orbit, locations of most candidates are visibly consistent with known terrestrial features such as tube-fed lava flows, volcano-tectonic fractures, and pit craters, each of which forms by mechanisms that can produce caves.Although we cannot determine subsurface extents of the Martian features discussed here, some may continue unimpeded for many kilometers if terrestrial examples are indeed analogous.The features presented here were identified in images acquired by the Mars Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System visiblewavelength camera, and by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Context Camera.Select candidates have since been targeted by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment.Martian caves are promising potential sites for future human habitation and astrobiology investigations; understanding their characteristics is critical for long-term mission planning and for developing the necessary exploration technologies.
科研通智能强力驱动
Strongly Powered by AbleSci AI