The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will use a neutron detector – the Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector or FREND – to map subsurface hydrogen to a depth of 1 m to reveal deposits of water-ice hidden just below the surface.
The graphic shows a simple representation of the detection process. Cosmic rays constantly bombard the surface of Mars; they knock neutrons out of the atoms they encounter on the surface and underneath. If water or frozen water-ice is present, hydrogen atoms cause multiple reflections in their paths through the subsurface, slowing down the neutrons. While some neutrons are captured in the subsurface, others escape back out into space. The speeds at which they arrive at the detector on TGO help determine the nature of the subsurface: those that have interacted with water will have lost some of their energy, and be travelling relatively slower than those that have not.