杏吧原创

Evidently bored with terrestrial snow and ice, scientists at the British
Antarctic Survey in Cambridge are working out how best to explore the polar ice
caps on Mars. The southern pole would be particularly tricky as sledges and skis
would stick fast to the carbon dioxide-rich ice in temperatures below
鈭�100掳C. Running heating wires through the sledge runners would let the
sledge glide more easily, says BAS鈥檚 Charles Cockell (Acta Astronautica,
vol 49, p 693). Heat from a 2-kilowatt heating element would make the ice
sublime into gaseous CO₂ and water vapour in the low pressure of the
Martian atmosphere, forming a cushion of gas on which the sledge would
鈥渉辞惫别谤鈥�.