An Electromagnetic Sounder to Detect Subsurface Liquid Water on Mars: Field Test Results

Passive, low frequency electromagnetic soundings of the subsurface can identify salinated liquid water at depths ranging from tens of meters to ~10km in an environment such as Mars. With support from NASA planetary and Mars instrument programs, Greg Delory and his colleagues have developed an autonomous sensor platform that has demonstrated magnetotelluric soundings over one kilometer deep at field test sites in the upper Snake River Plain region of southeastern Idaho. Greg will discuss his latest field test results, compare them with previous measurements of subsurface properties in the region, and demonstrate the applicability of this technique on a variety of potential future missions to the surface of Mars.