The project aims at determining the source of past and present hydrothermal activity on Mars using the data that will be obtained by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission, which is currently orbiting Mars and will collect scientific data from orbit starting from May 2018. Hydrothermal sites are where life may have started on Earth and where it may also have developed on Mars. Hydrothermal sites are also sites of precipitation of minerals that may be helpful for future exploitation of resources by human extraterrestrial colonies.
Principal Investigator: Daniel Mège
Funding source: FNP
Timeframe: Dec. 1, 2017 – Nov. 30, 2020