Korolev is an ice-filled
impact crater
An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact crater ...
in the
Mare Boreum quadrangle of
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
, located at 73° north latitude and 165° east longitude. It is in diameter
and contains about of water
ice, comparable in volume to
Great Bear Lake
Great Bear Lake ( den, Sahtú; french: Grand lac de l'Ours) is a lake in the boreal forest of Canada. It is the largest lake entirely in Canada (Lake Superior and Lake Huron are larger but straddle the Canada–US border), the fourth-largest ...
in
northern Canada
Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories an ...
.
The crater was named after
Sergei Korolev
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...
(1907–1966), the head
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entir ...
engineer and designer during the
Space Race
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the t ...
in the 1950s and 1960s.
Korolev crater is located on the
Planum Boreum
Planum Boreum (Latin: "the northern plain") is the northern polar plain on Mars. It extends northward from roughly 80°N and is centered at . Surrounding the high polar plain is a flat and featureless lowland plain called Vastitas Borealis which ...
, the northern polar plain which surrounds the north
polar ice cap
A polar ice cap or polar cap is a high-latitude region of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite that is covered in ice.
There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, no ...
, near the
Olympia Undae dune field. The crater rim rises about above the surrounding plains. The crater floor lies about below the rim, and is covered by a deep central mound of permanent water ice, up to in diameter.
Ice formation
The ice is permanently stable because the crater acts as a
natural cold trap. The thin Martian air above the crater ice is colder than air surrounding the crater; the colder local
atmosphere
An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A ...
is also heavier so it sinks to form a protective layer, insulating the ice, shielding it from melting and evaporation.
Recent research indicates that the ice deposit formed in place within the crater and was not previously part of a once-larger polar
ice sheet
In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...
.
The ice in the crater is part of the vast
water resources
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slight ...
at Mars poles.
Plan view of Korolev crater.jpg, Natural color view of Korolev crater from ''Mars Express
''Mars Express'' is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ''Mars Express'' mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally ref ...
''
Topography of Korolev crater.jpg, Color-coded topographic view of Korolev crater based on a digital terrain model from ''Mars Express'' data
Mare Boreum Map.JPG, Map of Mare Boreum quadrangle with major features and craters labeled
Mars NPArea-PIA00161.jpg, High-resolution image mosaic of Mare Boreum quadrangle from the Viking Orbiter
The ''Viking'' program consisted of a pair of identical American space probes, ''Viking 1'' and ''Viking 2'', which landed on Mars in 1976. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts: an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars f ...
USGS-Mars-MC-1-MareBoreumRegion-mola.png, High-resolution topographic map of Mare Boreum quadrangle with features and craters labeled, from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter 260px, MOLA topographic images of the two hemispheres of Mars. This image appeared on the cover of ''Science'' magazine in May 1999.
The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) was one of five instruments on the '' Mars Global Surveyor'' (MGS) spacecra ...
(MOLA) data
See also
*
1855 Korolev
1855 Korolev ( ''prov. designation'': ) is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. Discovered in 1969, it was later named after Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev.
Discovery ...
, minor planet
*
Korolev (lunar crater)
Korolev is a large lunar impact crater of the walled plain or basin type. It is named for Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev. It lies on the far side of the Moon, and the northern part of its floor crosses the lunar equator. Notable nearby c ...
References
External links
* (Animated;
ESA; June 30, 2020)
Impact craters on Mars
Mare Boreum quadrangle
Sergei Korolev
Water on Mars
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