September 4, 2024

Events

Speaker: Jack Holt, Professor, Lunar and Planetary Lab and Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona

Host: Brandon Jones

Title: Why Accessible Ice on Mars Is All The Rage

Abstract: Tantalizing evidence of widespread, near-surface water ice in the middle latitudes of Mars has changed our view of the planet’s history and has impacted NASA priorities for future missions.  Concepts for a landed mission to seek signatures of extant life, and an orbital mission to map resources for supporting human exploration, are both targeting this ice.  Such deposits are also important for paleoclimate, as they are thought to have formed in previous orbital configurations that allowed water ice to be stable outside the polar regions.  A relatively thin layer of regolith has preserved the ice for as much as a billion years in the form of glaciers and blankets of shallow subsurface ice.  Despite the emphasis on accessing this ice, there are many unknowns that hinder mission design including the overlying regolith properties, depth to ice, its distribution, volume, and purity.  I will explain our state of knowledge based on current orbital assets, how we might locate the oldest mid-latitude ice for sampling, and terrestrial analog studies that provide important insights into debris-covered glaciers.  I will also touch on new advances in both drone-based and orbital radar technology that could pave the way for a more complete understanding of this increasingly important target of interest. 

Biography: Jack Holt found his niche between engineering and geology using geophysics to study ice on Earth and other planetary bodies.  He is Co-Investigator on the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, has conducted airborne geophysical campaigns in Antarctica and Alaska, terrestrial analog studies in the western U.S.and Alaska, and is PI for Snow4Flow, a NASA Earth Ventures Suborbital program to study glaciers across the Arctic.  Holt received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rice University, worked at NASA/JPL in Radar Science and Engineering, and then received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Geology/Geophysics from Caltech.  He was Research Professor in the UT Jackson School of Geosciences before moving to Arizona six years ago.